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Up in smoke: Marijuana plant growing facility catches fire

GORHAM, Maine — This was not the proper way to light up.

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An overheated lamp caused a fire at a medical marijuana growing facility in southwestern Maine on Saturday night, authorities said.

According to Gorham fire Chief Kenneth Fickett, the fire destroyed the plants and a grow room inside the medical marijuana growing facility, WGME-TV reported.

That was the only one of the grow rooms to be damaged, Fickett told the Portland Press-Herald. The blaze did not spread to the facilty’s foyer or other grow rooms, the chief said.

“It’s a huge facility,” Fickett told the newspaper. “There are 10 grow rooms.”

Each grow room measures 20 feet by 40 feet. The one affected by the fire was filled with black smoke and the smell of plastic burning, the Press-Herald reported.

There were no injuries, WGME reported.

However, each firefighter had to wear a breathing apparatus to prevent them from getting high, the Press-Herald reported. Fickett said that can happen when mature marijuana plants burn.

“Luckily these weren’t full-fledged plants. We didn’t have that issue,” Fickett told the newspaper. “But that’s why we would never enter that building without a breathing apparatus.”

The fire is still under investigation.