The McDonald’s inside the Walmart Supercenter on U.S. 41 in Marquette Township is pictured. The restaurant remains closed following a fire in its kitchen area on Wednesday morning. The store was evacuated for several hours as firefighters inspected and cleared the smoke from the building. (Journal photo by Lisa Bowers)

MARQUETTE — The Walmart Supercenter on U.S. 41 was evacuated early Wednesday morning after heavy smoke was reported in the kitchen area of the McDonald’s restaurant inside the building.

The Marquette Township Fire Department was dispatched to the location at about 2:10 a.m. for a fire in the kitchen area of the restaurant, MTFD Chief Dan Shanahan said in an email on Wednesday.

“Upon arrival, the Walmart store had been evacuated with heavy smoke showing in the McDonald’s kitchen area,” Shanahan stated. “At this time we had requested Chocolay Township Fire for mutual aid.”

He said after gaining access to the McDonald’s area of the store, firefighters found smoke, but the fire appeared to have been extinguished by the fire suppression system.

“We shut off the fire suppression system, set up positive pressure fans to alleviate the smoke and checked the attic space for any fire spread,” he said.

He said there was no structural damage, and the store was reopened at around 6:30 a.m.

“There is some charring to a wall, burnt product, damaged appliances, smoke and water damage,” Shanahan said.

Casey Staheli, a senior manager of national media relations for Walmart, said the situation was handled appropriately by all involved.

“We are very glad that no customers or associates were hurt. And we are grateful for the quick response of the fire department,” Staheli said.

In an email statement on this afternoon, McDonald’s Owner/Operator Jim Wilson said “Our McDonald’s restaurant on U.S. 41 recently experienced damage when a piece of restaurant equipment caught fire after the restaurant was closed. We are grateful no one was in the restaurant at the time. We expect to reopen sometime in mid-March.”

The cause of the fire is still under investigation, Shanahan told the Mining Journal Thursday.

Lisa Bowers can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 242. Her email address is lbowers@miningjournal.net