Milford firefighters spray water on a greehouse swept by fire at Filanowski Farm in Milford Wednesday. Arnold Gold/Register

MILFORD — A fast-burning greenhouse fire fueled by peat and plastic sent plumes of dark smoke wafting over the historic and well-known Filanowski Farm in Milford Wednesday afternoon, but the damage wasn’t as bad as it first appeared. The fire broke out at about 1:30 p.m. Wednesday in one of about 50 greenhouses at the Wheeler’s Farm Road farm, which celebrated its 103rd anniversary this year and has been in the Filanowski family for two generations.

"It has a plastic covering, so it burns spectacular," said Milford fire Assistant Chief Lee Cooke. "It looks more spectacular than it really is, just because of all the heavy black smoke."

Workers were putting a peat and soil potting mix into pots when the fire apparently broke out near an electrical box. The dry, tightly-compacted peat, which is used as fuel in some parts of the world and is hard to extinguish, caused the fire to quickly spread and destroy the greenhouse.

The fire also destroyed a dirt mixing machine, just as the farm was preparing for the start of the season. Plant buffs come from all over to Filanowski’s farm, even from as far as New York, to buy the perennials, annuals and other plants grown there.

But owner Mark Filanowski, 76, whose parents ran the farm until it was passed to him, kept the fire in perspective. It is not believed to seriously impact business, and the farm has another dirt mixing machine to replace the one destroyed by Wednesday’s fire.

"Hey, as long as no one got hurt, who cares," Filanowski said as he watched firefighters clear away smoldering wreckage. "Anything that can get replaced you don’t worry about."

Cooke, who is also the department’s fire marshal, said the cause of the fire is still under investigation. Anthony Allen, who was working at the greenhouse when it went up, said he suspects that an electrical problem might have been to blame.

"When I came out, that corner was on fire, where the electrical box is," said Allen, who is Filanowski’s son-in-law. "If I had an extinguisher, I could have just put it out."

It took firefighters about an hour to completely extinguish the smoldering wreckage. Chuck Hoey, a close family friend who was at the farm when the fire broke out, said the loss of one greenhouse isn’t the worst thing that could happen.

"This one will slow them down a little bit, but not much," said Hoey, who lives in West Haven. "It ain’t going to stop them, that’s the good thing."

Phil Helsel can be reached at 876-3028 or at phelsel@nhregister.com .