UP TO 1,300 HOMES POSSIBLE GROW OPS

About 1,300 marijuana grow operations in this city probably include
some 300 homes with children living in dangerous conditions, Surrey's
fire chief estimates.

An association representing social workers says it's a "crisis
situation" in need of fast action by the provincial government.

The children are living "with the possibility of being electrocuted,
burned to death, smoke inhalation, poisoning, respiratory illness or
someone coming in and beating the crap out of their parents," said
Paul Jenkinson, of the B.C. Association of Social Workers, Child
Welfare and Family Committee Chair.

"Wouldn't you think that's a crisis?"

He said the province needs to develop a policy directive that will
protect the children at risk.

The call comes as the number of children found in grow operations is
expected to increase significantly.

Last October, B.C. Hydro gave Surrey Fire Chief Len Garis the
locations of 1,300 homes with excessive power use (at least three
times higher than normal), which is most commonly the result of a
marijuana grow operation.

While 10 per cent of those may be "false positives," Garis believes an
additional 300 or so remain undetected.

"I would say you could add another 25 or 30 per cent to the list
because it could be bypassed or they could be really monitoring their
electrical systems carefully."

The list of addresses is key for the Electrical Fire Safety Initiative
team (EFSI), which was formed about a year ago to find and eradicate
marijuana grow operations. The team has just doubled in size and now
includes two firefighters, two electrical inspectors, four police
officers and two clerical staff.

In its first year, the EFSI checked 353 homes with high power
consumption, 263 of which were cut off, and 39 homeowners were given
seven-day notices to correct electrical deficiencies.

"This group should be able to be able to produce 120 to 150
inspections a month," Garis said. At that rate, he's fairly confident
the team can shut down the current list of grow operations in 10 months.

In the last year, the ESFI also found 80 homes with a total of 155
children living in hazardous conditions.

Those were reported to the Children and Families ministry, which told
The Leader last year each case is investigated, but couldn't say how
many kids, if any, were removed from the homes.

Garis believes one in five of the 1,300 houses targeted by B.C. Hydro
will also contain children, meaning almost 300 new reports to
government services.

Section 13 of the Child, Family and Community Services Act doesn't
address grow op environments specifically, but indicates a child can
be removed from a home "if the child has been, or is likely to be,"
harmed physically, sexually, emotionally or if the child is deprived
of necessary care or abandoned.

B.C social workers want that to change.

"The ministry for Children and Families for years has made a mistake
in its focus," Jenkinson said Wednesday. "These homes are dangerous,
and as long as the parents move the children away from the home, then
many times that's enough."

The ministry has undertaken a hiring blitz, adding 100 child
protection workers per year over the next several years.

Jenkinson said the extra staff will only be effective if meaningful
policy is created.