1 Dead After Nursing Home Meth Lab Explodes

9:49 AM, Mar 6, 2012   |    comments
This photo provided by the Ashtabula Division of Fire shows a room at Park Haven Nursing Home where a Sunday night fire caused by a meth lab in the room killed one person and injured six others. (Ashtabula F.D./AP)
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Ashtabula, Ohio (WKYC) -- One person was killed and six injured when a homemade meth lab exploded at a nursing home in Ohio this weekend, the local fire chief tells WKYC-TV.

"It's a first," Ashtabula fire chief Ron Pristera says of Sunday night's fire at Park Haven Nursing home.

He describes the meth operation as a "pop bottle, shake-and-bake lab."

Pristera says the man who died was among three residents and two non-residents hospitalized. Two others were treated at the scene.

One of the injured was a pregnant nurse who helped several people flee the building, WKYC reports.

A sprinkler system contained most of the fire.

Methamphetamine is a highly addictive illegal stimulant often cooked in homes with flammable components. State officials say more than 300 meth labs were broken up last year.

A lawyer for the nursing home, which houses about 40 people, has declined to comment, the Associated Press reports.