LEBANON — Maine law enforcement officers broke up a suspected drug-making lab in the basement of a house at 25 Bigelow Road on Saturday, according to state authorities.

Aaron Lowden, 41, a homeless man from the Augusta area, was arrested at the scene on a bail violation and will face drug-making charges once chemists determine what he was making in the basement, said Stephen McCausland, spokesman for the Maine Department of Public Safety.

Lowden is being held at York County Jail in Alfred.

McCausland said the suspected lab was discovered by homeowner Deborah Wilson, who
had allowed Lowden to stay in her basement.

Police found a Coleman stove, beakers, glass tubes and other items at the scene, McCausland said.

More than 50 drug enforcement officers and emergency workers descended
on the house Saturday afternoon, including the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency’s Clandestine Laboratory Enforcement Team equipped with protective suits and respirators.

The Maine Drug Enforcement Agency and York County Sheriff’s’ Office are investigating the incident.

Lebanon Assistant Rescue Chief Jason Cole said his department was called to the scene at 12:50 p.m. on Saturday, along with the Lebanon Fire Department, the Department of Environmental Protection and the York County Emergency Management office.

Cole said one man was treated for injuries related to the incident while the owner of the house was treated for a medical condition unrelated to the incident.

Emergency workers were on the scene for 13 hours, and traffic was blocked from the road, causing delays on nearby Route 202, authorities said.

Cole said the incident did not appear to be related to a home invasion on River Road on Friday, but the back-to-back incidents made Lebanon residents nervous, he said.

Lebanon does not have a police department.

“Seeing all the blue lights, it really scared a lot of people,” Cole said.