FRYEBURG – Fire Chief Ozzie Sheaf said he was “not ruling out smoking materials” as the cause of the fire late Sunday night that destroyed a building on the grounds of Western Maine Nurseries.
Sheaf said late Monday afternoon that he hadn’t determined the exact cause of the fire, but he believes someone left a cigarette in a coffee mug being used as an ashtray that was on the arm of a couch in the building.
“The fire definitely started on the couch,” he said.
The 16- by 20-foot building was used by some of the tree nursery’s workers as a laundry room and a place to make phone calls, Sheaf said.
Sheaf estimates that the total damage to the building plus the eight washers and dryers housed there was roughly $20,000.
Firefighters arrived just after 10 p.m. Sunday, Sheaf said, and had the fire entirely extinguished by 11:43 p.m.
Western Maine Nurseries has offices, a warehouse and greenhouses at 4 Nursery Lane, just south of Fryeburg Village off Route 5.
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