Former East Side Mario's restaurant scene of electrical fire

An electrical fire at the abandoned former East Side Mario’s restaurant on Memorial Avenue kept firefighters busy on Saturday morning.

Thunder Bay Fire Service district Chief Dave Grant said police were already on scene by the time they arrived, and had in fact placed the emergency call.

“We had an electrical fire in the overhang to the main entrance. We’re still in the throes of putting this out. We’re going to apply foam here in the next few minutes.”

Though there appeared to be more smoke than flames, Grant said firefighters weren’t taking any chances of it spreading to the building’s interior.

“We called a second alarm on it. The inside has been checked. There’s no fire extension into the inside and power is being cut by Thunder Bay Hydro,” Grant said.

The cause is still up in the air. The building has been up for sale for a couple of years, but Grant said there was no evidence of foul play. No injuries were reported.

“There’s nothing that we can tell. This will be under investigation by the fire prevention officers in Thunder Bay,” he said.

Five pumpers and an aerial platform attended the fire.