Huge Surrey fire linked to medicinal marijuana growing operation

Huge Surrey fire linked to medicinal marijuana growing operation 
By MIKE HAGER, BRIAN MORTON AND MATTHEW ROBINSON, Vancouver Sun March 31, 2014
METRO VANCOUVER - A pungent haze loitered among the ashes of a massive medical marijuana grow operation levelled Monday by what Surrey’s top firefighter termed a suspicious blaze, sparked on the very day Canada’s controversial, outgoing pot licensing scheme was set to expire.

It took more than 30 firefighters to put out the six-metre-high flames that destroyed a modified warehouse on a former Port Kells mushroom farm that since at least 2011 had housed three medical marijuana licenses good for more than 500 plants, according to Chief Len Garis.

“Fortunately, nobody was hurt,” said Garis, who added that the fire showcased the dangers of licensed grow operations under the old system. “But you know what? I have six engines there and it’s just a stark example of why these things need to be regulated properly.”

He noted that the Government of Canada appealed a Federal Court injunction Monday that allows people to continue to grow medical marijuana while a full legal challenge plays out in the courts. Garis and other Lower Mainland chiefs had been planning to start a crackdown today on local medical marijuana patients who refused to stop home production and destroy their plants, as was required by Health Canada regulations until the injunction was set two weeks ago.

By Monday afternoon, firefighters had entered the smouldering warehouse near 187th Street and 88th Avenue where they found plant remnants in what may have been a drying room, said Garis, who did not know what part of the plants had gone up in smoke.

Neighbours living near the old mushroom farm said the smell of marijuana on the huge site was not unusual, and that over the past few days they had seen tenants moving equipment off the property, which had been gutted by the fire.

“I saw the flames on top of the roof and it was going crazy,” said Drago Kodelja, who lives in the 8700-block of 187th Street directly across the street from the fire. “The whole building burned down from one end to the other. And it went fast. In half an hour, they couldn’t stop it.”

Kodelja said that he often smelled marijuana at the property and that there were “scrubby” people hanging around.

“There were a lot of weirdos around there. They had long hair, unclean, with a lot of tattoos. Everybody thought it was suspicious. And quite a few people complained about the marijuana smell. Quite a few neighbours have moved out because they were fed up with the marijuana.”.....click "Read More" below to continue....
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Kodelja, who remembered buying mushrooms at the farm years ago, said police had been at the property last year and the gates were always locked.

Kodelja noted that empty trailers and forklifts were brought into the property in recent days to move things off the property.

“A lot of equipment was moved out in the last few days. Big forklifts were taking out equipment on panels. When somebody moves everything out and then there’s a big fire the next day, you certainly wonder.”

Cathie Gambling, who also lives near the farm, said it came as a surprise to her that the property was used to grow medicinal marijuana. “When I pulled into my driveway, you’d smell heavy, heavy skunk. But I didn’t know where it was coming from. It would have been nice if (the authorities) would have let us know.”

Gambling also said the property was pretty quiet and that she didn’t notice who was coming and going.

Landlord Amarjit Kang, who lives directly behind the farm, said the medicinal marijuana grow operation had been there for four years, but that he had lately developed a poor relationship with his tenants.

Kang had told them their rent was going up, but they argued they’d already spent $45,000 on equipment and wouldn’t pay the extra cost.

“They had an argument with me and we didn’t have a good relationship,” said Kang, adding that his farm was worth $4 million. “I said you can move out if you don’t want it.”

According to the property title, the property is registered to Baljit Kaur Hundal and was transferred to Hundal in January 2010 from Kang Mushroom Farm Ltd., which bought it off another mushroom farm in 2007.

The site was not on the radar of the Lower Mainland’s integrated anti-gang unit, according to spokesman Sgt. Lindsey Houghton, who added it is not uncommon for organized criminals or their associates to get licenses to grow medicinal marijuana.

“We have heard of cases where Hells Angels members do in fact have medicinal marijuana (growing) licences,” he said. “Anywhere that criminals can make money, they will try.”

There are around 1,100 medical marijuana grow operations in Surrey licensed under the older system, of which firefighters have inspected at least 300, Garis said, adding that of those 300, 97 per cent had electrical safety violations.

Until the smaller production licences from the older system are fully banned, Garis said, the current federal legal struggle means fire departments like his can only enforce “immediate safety issues,” such as violations of the Electrical Safety Standards Act.

He said he supported the new federal regulations.

“I’m looking forward to it, quite frankly,” he said. “I have no opinion whether or not marijuana should be used for medicinal or any other reason, but what I can say is I haven’t found (grow operations) to be compatible with a residential setting.”

Garis said that until the courts had dealt with the injunction and appeal — “and god knows how long that’s going to take,” he added — he and his crews would be left cleaning up the mess of a system that left grow operations scattered through the city. No one from Health Canada was available for comment before press time Monday, but the ministry has previously denied requests to confirm that as few as three of its inspectors regulate the thousands of B.C.’s licensed producers.

Garis said his department has had no communication with any inspectors.

“I don’t even know what their job is,” he said. “I do know anecdotally that they were going to be doing some random checking, but they were concerned because they were solo and they didn’t feel safe and therefore they didn’t want to do this.

“The whole thing is just a joke,” Garis said. “That system continues to be an absolute disaster.”

Before last month’s ruling, the city had planned to send out inspectors and charge homeowners $5,200 if the plants were not destroyed by Tuesday. The fines would continue to rise every month, about $800 each time, until the grow operation was shut down.

Neil Boyd, the director of Simon Fraser University’s School of Criminology, said that with the injunction in place, anyone who was licensed to grow under the old system was “permitted to keep growing until the case is resolved by a future court.”

The federal government has noted there were fewer than 100 people authorized to possess marijuana for medical purposes when the program was introduced in 2001. That number has since grown to close to 40,000, posing “significant unintended consequences on public health, safety and security,” including risks of home invasion, fire and toxic mould.

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