HOUSE FIRE LEADS COPS TO GROW-OP

For the second time in less than two weeks a fire has led Windsor police to
a marijuana-growing operation.

Firefighters alerted police to the grow-op after dousing a minor blaze in
the basement of a home at 1556 Lincoln Rd. just after 5 p.m. Tuesday, said
Staff Sgt. Ed McNorton. No one was home when the fire broke out.

Officers from the police drug unit obtained a search warrant and discovered
a small pot-growing operation in the home's basement.

The officers seized 12 marijuana plants, 235 grams of loose pot and a
handful of joints with an estimated street value of $54, 209.

Windsor fire prevention officer Lee Tome said the electrical fire began in
faulty lamp wiring near the marijuana plants, but he said investigators
hadn't determined if the lamp was used for pot production.

"We're waiting on a hydro investigation," said Tome. Damage to the basement
is pegged at $20,000.

On Wednesday morning, the home's 41-year-old resident turned himself in at
police headquarters, said McNorton. He will be charged with producing an
illegal substance and drug trafficking.

The Lincoln Road fire was the second blaze to uncover a grow-op in August.
On Aug. 22, a fire that gutted a third-floor apartment in the 400 block of
Bruce Avenue also led police to seize 47 pot plants worth approximately
$52,000.

Fire department Insp. Dennis Williams said that fire was likely caused by a
cigarette left smouldering on a sofa, or possibly by a candle. It wasn't
related to the grow-op.

The apartment's tenant, 31-year-old Brook Johns, was charged Aug. 27 with
cultivating marijuana.

Staff Sgt. Danny Woods of Windsor's drug enforcement unit said that while
it isn't common for firefighters to uncover grow-ops, it has happened in
the past.

"That's one of the apparent dangers that are associated to these grows," he
said. "They generate a lot of heat and of course people are doing their own
wiring. You have to be very careful."