Firefighters in Lewiston battled a fire that broke out Wednesday afternoon at a College Street home that has been subject to multiple drug raids by police over the last nine months.
Lewiston Police issued a statement shortly before 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday announcing that fire crews had responded to 149 College St. to battle the structure fire.
The area of 149 College St. was closed to traffic while firefighters worked to extinguish the flames.
Neighbors close to the home told WGME that they heard an explosion-like sound at around 3:30 p.m., and saw flames engulfing the home.
“The fire was contained to the garage area,” Lewiston Assistant Fire Chief Mark Anderson told the outlet. “There was a small amount of extension into the main home, but that was taken care of and extinguished quickly.”
Two firefighters reportedly suffered minor injuries when the building partially collapsed, but were able to make it out of the burning home.
“There was a partial collapse, and one got stuck, and the other was on a ladder, but they both made it out OK, we were able to account for everybody,” Anderson said.
The College Street home has been the site of four drug busts since December 2023, totaling more than 20 arrests on drug charges and the seizure of large amounts of methamphetamine, crack cocaine and fentanyl.
Police say the building was already condemned by the city before the fire broke out on Wednesday.
Read more on the raids at the Lewiston drug house here:
Gods will be done….
Guess the meth cooking idea was not such a good one. Lucky the miscreants did not blow themselves up which sometimes happens.
Nothing better for cleaning up a mess than a good hot fire .
Why wasn’t it shut down on the first raid-permanently?