A fire destroyed a Bangor nursery’s main growing greenhouse early Tuesday morning.
Bangor firefighters responded to the fire at Sprague’s Nursery and Garden Center on Union Street shortly after midnight on Tuesday, according to Melissa Higgins, the business’ general manager.
The destroyed structure was about 80 feet long and was one of the nursery’s 15 greenhouses. The fire also melted the plastic covering on a neighboring greenhouse, which will need to be repaired.
The cause of the fire is unknown.
The business considers itself lucky, however, because the greenhouse was completely empty and no one was injured in the fire. The nursery’s first shipment of plants that will go in the greenhouse is due to arrive in 15 days.
“If this had happened two or three months later, the greenhouse would have been full of propagating plants,” Higgins said. “Losing that would’ve been extremely hard to recover from.”
In the hours following the fire on Tuesday, Higgins began receiving calls from nearby local businesses offering to help tear down the charred structure and install a new greenhouse.
“It just goes to show that small businesses stick together,” she said.
The remnants of the greenhouse will be torn down this week, Higgins said, and work on erecting a new structure is scheduled to begin on Monday, as long as they receive their instance payment.
“Luckily we avoided a major loss,” Higgins said. “It will be costly to replace the building, but we have insurance and hopefully everything will be covered.”
The nursery’s retail shop was not damaged and remains open.
