Area fire departments responded to a report of smoke at a greenhouse facility in Hillcrest on Friday evening, Rochelle Fire Department Lt. Jason Underwood said Saturday.
Rochelle Fire received a call at 5:34 p.m. Friday for a structure fire at NuEra Hillcrest, LLC, at 16280 E. Twombly Road. NuEra Hillcrest is a cannabis-growing facility. The first fire crews arrived at 5:42 p.m. and saw no flames showing from outside the building. Crews were then alerted to a single greenhouse full of smoke.
"We entered that greenhouse, and smoke filled the room to the floor," Underwood said. "We didn't see fire or flames, and the temperatures were at 130-140 degrees and not very high. It was tough to see. We worked with the facility to get an exhaust fan turned on. Once we were certain there wasn't a big fire, we used the exhaust fan and more fans, and over 30 minutes, we cleared the smoke out, and we could tell the fire was extinguished."
Underwood said the greenhouse impacted by smoke did not have any plants in it at the time of the fire. The cause and source of the fire are still under investigation, and the smell and color of the smoke indicated plastic burning. The structure did not sustain damage.
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