The OPP has confirmed that a barn fire in Ontario’s Northumberland County was housing an illicit weed grow-op.

The structure was an “illegal grow operation of cannabis,” OPP Sgt. Rick Dupuis told Ontario Farmer on Sept. 14.

Firefighters attending the scene at about 2 p.m. on Sept. 12 were met by heavy smoke coming from the east side of the barn and had to attack the flames from the perimeter, according to Global News.

There were no injuries as a result of the barn, estimated to be about 12 by 60 metres and believed to contain some hay bales, being destroyed in the afternoon blaze, reports Ontario Farmer. Investigators with both the OPP and Ontario’s Office of the Fire Marshal (OFM) had to wait for the safety okay before beginning their probes, the publication adds.

If the numbers Dupuis has been given are accurate, the plants are well in excess of the legal requirements, according to Today’s Northumberland. “We will be preparing a search warrant under the Cannabis Act to give us authorization to come in here — search and seize anything that’s relevant to any said offences,” he added.

There was another barn adjacent to the one that burned, Today’s Northumberland reports, and that, too, housed a marijuana grow operation.

“Once their investigation is complete, we’ll initiate our investigation, which will be a criminal investigation under the Cannabis Act,” the publication quotes Dupuis as saying.

Ontario Farmer reports that another barn fire that contained an illegal grow-op occurred just a few kilometres away several years ago.