MONTICELLO, Minn. — Four greenhouses at a Monticello growing operation are destroyed or damaged after a hot-burning fire late Thursday morning.
Monticello Fire Chief Mike Mossey says dispatchers got a 911 call from Dan and Jerry's Farm Range just after 11 a.m. An employee working in one of the location's dozen-plus greenhouses noticed smoke pouring from another greenhouse and radioed his supervisors, who called 911.
Chief Mossey tells KARE 11 that one of the greenhouses that burned was being used to store plastic pots. That plastic spewed thick black smoke into the sky for a time, which made the fire visible from miles away. Fire crews were also concerned about the possible presence of fertilizer, which can explode when burned, but the greenhouses that started on fire did not have fertilizer inside them.
Of the four 100-foot-by-20 foot structures that burned, two are considered total losses, while the other two can likely be restored.
An employee of Dan and Jerry's says the location is used to grow plants for wholesale distribution. The greenhouses that started on fire were filled with flowers and bedding plants.
Monticello firefighters were helped by crews from Buffalo and Maple Lake.
