Fire erupts at legal Vernon grow-op

VERNON – Fire broke out in a 26 Avenue home Tuesday morning after the occupant left some herb cooking on a hot plate in the basement. Deputy fire chief of operations Jack Blair says the man had a license from Health Canada to grow and possess marijuana for medical purposes and a small, personal grow-op was found in the basement.

"Under Health Canada's regulations, owners of legal marijuana grows are allowed to do various processes, and some of those entail the heating of substances," Blair says. "If not done carefully, those substances can become quite flammable."

The operator had left the product cooking while he went upstairs and "got side-tracked", Blair says.

When he came back down, the hot plate was on fire. He tried to douse the flames with a fire extinguisher but was unsuccessful and called the fire department.

When firefighters arrived, smoke was pouring from the house. Crews waited for B.C. Hydro to disconnect the electricity before heading in due to the nature of the scene.

The fire was put out in short order, and the occupant was unharmed save for a minor burn on his forearm.

To contact the reporter for this story, email Charlotte Helston at chelston@infotelnews.ca, call (250)309-5230, or tweet @charhelston