Graham Jaehnig/Daily Mining Gazette Fire destroyed Gemignani's Italian Restaurant, on Hancock’s Quincy Street, during the early morning hours on Tuesday. No injuries were reported. Fire fighters were reportedly on the scene for approximately two hours.

HANCOCK — An early-morning structure fire on Tuesday destroyed well-known Gemignani’s Italian Restaurant.

Hancock police Lt. David Outinen said that the officer who responded to the fire call had the call logged at approximately 3:48 a.m.11

An official statement from the Hancock Fire Department has not been released, but Outinen said his information suggested the fire started in the rear of the building, behind where the kitchen is located.

Outinen said that the tenant in the upstairs apartment, along with his two dogs and one of his two cats were evacuated, but the tenant’s second cat was not accounted for.

A resident in the apartment building next door, who asked not to be identified, spoke earlier in the morning and said that police woke her between 3:30 – 4 a.m. and ordered her and other residents in the apartment building to evacuate and to remove their vehicles from the parking space in the rear of the structures. The witness said those who were evacuated walked across the street and watched as the fire department fought the blaze. Fire fighters left the scene at approximately 6 a.m. she said.

The resident of the apartment on the second floor of the restaurant was safely evacuated, said the witness, and was provided a hotel room by Pigs ‘n’ Heat for him, his two dogs and surviving cat.

The back section of the structure sustained the worst damage from the fire, where a section of the roof was burned and fell into the area behind the kitchen. Outinen said the fire chief, Bill Lepisto, has called in the state fire marshal, but he is not aware of any suspicion regarding the blaze.