by Sarah Craighead Dedmon

Sometime in the early morning hours of Saturday, Aug. 3, an aquarium caught fire at Elm Street School in East Machias. Principal Tony Maker said the fire could have begun with the aquarium’s filtration or aeration systems. Fortunately, it appears that the aquarium’s water stopped the fire from going very far.

“Talking to both the fire chief and the insurance adjuster, they believe that once the fire got hot enough, it cracked the aquarium,” said Maker. “It was actually the water in the aquarium that extinguished the fire.”