Massachusetts Greenhouse Fires Causes $4.5M in Damage

Investigators say a five-alarm fire that caused an estimated $4.5 million in damages to a Sudbury, Massachusetts greenhouse operation was caused by a tractor malfunction.

The state fire marshal and the Sudbury fire chief said in a joint statement that the tractor that sparked the blaze at Cavicchio Greenhouses early Tuesday may have been smoldering for hours.

No injuries were reported.

Firefighters from Sudbury and a dozen other communities saved about 70 percent of the business.

Cavicchio Greenhouses Inc. provides landscaping supplies as well as flowers, grasses and herbs to New England businesses including garden centers, golf courses and landscape architects. Its website says the family owned business was founded in 1910 and features a 200-acre farm of rotating crops.