Madawaska firefighters find marijuana plants

MADAWASKA – Firefighters looking for the origin of an electrical fire found a stash of growing marijuana plants. A Madawaska man was summoned to court Monday.

Jared Cyr, 20, lived in a third floor apartment at 251 Main St., where a fire was reported Saturday morning. Firefighters found marijuana plants growing in a clothes closet in his apartment Saturday morning.

Cyr’s initial court appearance is scheduled for June at the District Court in Madawaska.

Sgt. Carroll Theriault of the Madawaska Police Department said Cyr admitted that he had nine plants growing in his clothes closet. He had a lighting system installed there with a timer.

The nine plants ranged in height from 12 to 18 inches, according to the police officer. “They had only been growing a short time,” Theriault said.

Norman Cyr, fire chief at Madawaska, said his men were looking for the source of an electrical fire called in at 11:15 a.m. Saturday. Using thermal-imaging equipment, firefighters followed the bright white light of the camera through two floors of the structure owned by Michael Cowie.

“We were doing a primary search for the fire,” Cyr said. “Firefighters went into a third-floor apartment and came across the marijuana plants.”

Chief Cyr said the fire was caused by an electrical malfunction. Damage to the building was minimal, he said.

“Damage would have been much more serious if we had to tear out walls looking for the electrical fire,” he said Tuesday. “The [thermal imaging] camera saved us from tearing down many walls and other areas of the interior.”

He said firefighters followed the white simulation the camera was showing through the walls from floor to floor.