Amateur marijuana grow sites are causing a fire hazard because of overloaded circuits from lights, fans, heaters and ventilation systems.
This fall, a home on County Road 25 nearly burned down because of a poorly designed basement garden.
“Extension cords for all the heaters and lights overheated and caught the couch on fire,” said Cortez Fire Chief Jeff Vandevoorde. “The fire spread and caused $8,000 in damage.”
Gary Freeman, a local electrical inspector for Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies, said homeowners should have an electrical inspection before setting up an indoor garden.
“Some grow lights pull a lot of amperage – 1,000 watts each – and older houses are not designed to handle that much load,” he said.
Older homes are usually set up for 60-amp service, and more modern are rated at 100-amp service, Freeman said.
Upgrading a home to 200-amp service or adding additional circuits would be advisable for a homeowner thinking of starting an indoor marijuana garden.
Durango Fire Marshal Karola Hanks said they have not had fires from indoor grows since Amendment 64 legalized recreational marijuana in 2012. But it has happened before.
In 2009, James “Dan” Middleton was killed in a Durango condo fire that had a indoor marijuana garden permitted for medical use. Investigators could not positively conclude the fire was caused by grow lights, but it started in the bedroom where the marijuana garden was located.
Ironically the 2012 legalization of recreational marijuana may help to create safer indoor grows, Hanks said.
“They’ve come out of the cramped closet with not enough outlets and a lot of lights and heaters,” she said. “Now they’re more in the open, with more space and outlets.”
In 2011, a Durango home caught fire from candles the homeowner said he was using to cover up the smell of an indoor marijuana garden.
“There has always been a stigma. Now people don’t hide them as much because they’re less worried about getting caught,” Hanks said. “Legalization has also spurred the development of safer indoor grow lights because of the demand.”
Fire authorities and law enforcement are especially concerned about an increase in indoor hash-oil production. The process involves using flammable liquids, including butane, and can cause explosions if done incorrectly.
The Denver area has seen more fires from hash-oil explosions since Amendment 64 passed. For that reason, Cortez banned the hash oil production within city limits.
“It is not much different from a meth lab as far as the fire danger,” said Montezuma County undersheriff Lynda Carter.
Local Hazmat crews are upgrading their training to handle hash-oil labs, said Cortez fire chief Vandevoorde. In 2013 Colorado law enforcement reported 11 hash oil explosions. So far in 2014, there have been 26 explosions from hash-oil labs.
She said a lesser known risk for growing marijuana indoors is exposure to children, which could be a violation of child endangerment laws and social services child-welfare regulations.
“Now recreational grow operations are more prevalent, and children have more access to them,” Carter said. “Medical marijuana laws had more safeguards. Private recreational gardens tend to be more careless.”
It’s illegal to expose children to marijuana, and is comparable to an adult charged with a DUI, plus child endangerment, because kids are in the car.
“By law smoking marijuana around kids is not allowed, and access to grow operations or the drug by kids is not allowed,” said Josiah Forkner, director of Montezuma County social services.
jmimiaga@cortezjournal.com