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Marijuana Grow House Smoked Out In Yonkers Fire
By
John Del Signore
Published Jul 11, 2011
Modified Jul 11, 2011
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By
John Del Signore
Published Jul 11, 2011
Modified Jul 11, 2011
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Yonkers firefighters responding to an early morning blaze at a single-family home early Sunday morning found the house unoccupied except for four bedrooms packed with growing marijuana plants, some six feet tall. Nobody was inside the house, which Assistant Fire Chief George Kielb says "looked like a normal home from the outside. But all the windows were covered with plywood and the top floors were just filled with pot." Firefighters worked for three hours before the well-packed blaze was finally cashed, and by that time the two top floors were gutted and the roof was partially destroyed.
Kielb speculates the fire was started after electrical wires inside a second-floor wall overheated. It's a common problem faced by illegal marijuana growers; if you use too much electricity to power the lamps for the hydroponic growing system, the high electric usage could tip off investigators. So in this case, the electrical lines had been diverted around the home's meter box thus preventing utility officials from tracking the high power usage, Lohud.com reports. But rerouting electrical wires comes with its own risks, which may explain why more New Yorkers are simply growing their weed in city parks.
Tagged
fire
grass
grow house
hotbox
marijuana
pot
reefer
yonkers
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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