FIRE DEPARTMENT GETS ITS MAN

CLEARVIEW TOWNSHIP - A man who ran a marijuana grow-op out of a rural
Clearview Township home he rented has pleaded guilty to charges laid
by the Clearview Fire Department.

The man pleaded guilty last Tuesday in Wasaga Beach Provincial Court
to three charges and was fined $2,000 on each count.

Fire Chief Bob McKean said that under the Fire Protection and
Prevention Act (FPPA), the man was charged with Plant Growing Without
Design or Approval and Use of Temporary Wiring for Plant Production.

Also under the FPPA and the Ontario Fire Code, he was charged with
having no working smoke alarms in the home.

McKean and a member of the Office of the Fire Marshal (OFM) visited
the Highway 26 home, east of Stayner, immediately following a raid by
the Ontario Provincial Police in May 2010.

The visit allowed them to collect evidence by filming and
photographing the home.

McKean said that in June 2010 he traveled to the provincial
corrections facility in Penetanguishene, where the man was
incarcerated, and formally charged him with violations under the FPPA
and the Ontario Fire Code.

"We're taking a very pro-active approach and saying if you want to
come to Clearview and you want to set up a grow-op or drug lab and get
caught...you're going to be dealing with us. We're going to hit you
with both barrels. We're taking a very staunch approach with this,"
McKean said.

Laying charges following drug raids is a fairly new practice for
Ontario's fire departments.

"I'd say in the last two or three years the OFM is getting more
involved. It's about enforcement," McKean said, adding: "This is the
second one we've done for a grow-op in our community. The last one we
did, we only got the smoke alarm [conviction] because our evidence
collection wasn't as detailed as this time."

When the OPP is ready to raid a grow-op or drug lab, McKean said they
advise the Office of the Fire Marshal and its members then advise the
local fire department.

"Once the OPP goes in and makes the place safe, we can collect our
evidence," he explained.

Grow-ops and drug labs pose a real public safety threat, McKean
said.

"One of the things we want to highlight is these grow-ops create a
hazard for the community, not just for our residents but our first
responders," he said.