Crews battle large house fire on Lake Minnetonka late into the night

Firefighters battled a large house fire in Wayzata, on Lake Minnetonka's northeastern shore, late into the night Wednesday.

"The cold weather and wind aren't helping us," Wayzata Fire Chief Kevin Klapprich said from the scene about 9 p.m.

Crews were called to the scene, a large home under construction at 2750 Gale Road, on Breezy Point, about 6:15 p.m. They found the structure fully engulfed in flames. Because there are no hydrants in the area, they were having to haul in tanker after tanker of water, Klapprich said.

No one was in the house when the fire broke out and no firefighters suffered injuries, but the frigid weather and gusty winds made the crews' work especially difficult, he said. Firefighters were being rotated in and out of shelter to allow them to warm up and rest as the night wore on.

The fire, on the shore of Breezy Point near Browns and Wayzata bays, was so large that flames could be seen from the other end of the lake, and the smoke was showing up on weather radar.

According to a Wayzata police dispatcher, the fire began in the attached garage of the home, but Klapprich later said that because the fire was so intense, they are not yet able to pinpoint where it started.

According to Hennepin County property records, the house that burned was going up in place of a large 22-year-old home that was sold in 2017 for $5.4 million, then torn down to make way for the new one.

STAFF REPORTS