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2-Alarm Fire Guts Mandarin Garden Restaurant in Berkeley

Berkeley firefighters battled a 2-alarm blaze at a Chinese restaurant on Friday, which has been serving the city, right near the university, for three decades.

Acting Deputy Fire Chief Donna McCracken said crews also responded to the same address about midnight, five hours before the blaze was again reported at the Mandarin Garden Restaurant at 2025 Shattuck Ave.  McCracken said it's unclear if there were two fires, or if the 5 a.m. fire reignited from the first.

McCracken said that the family of the restaurant owners live inside the now-gutted building, when the kitchen fire began. No injuries were reported. The fire was contained to the one building.

Helicopter aerials and ground video shows firefighters hosing the Mandarin Garden Restaurant at 2025 Shattuck Ave.

When the sun came up, gaping dark holes could be seen in the restaurant's roof and walls. A firefighter was seen handing boxes to someone who seemed to belong to the family, though no one wanted to publicly speak.

The restaurant’s Facebook page says the restaurant offers a large menu of Cantonese, Mandarin and Szechuan dishes, and the owners are “100 percent fluent in Mandarin, Chinese, Japanese, and English.”

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