HIGH-RISE GROW-OP A FIRE THREAT - COPS

Two Rooms Full Of Marijuana Plants Found In Vine Street Apartment

ST. CATHARINES -- A marijuana grow-op busted in a St. Catharines
high-rise apartment building last week was a serious electrical and
fire threat that, in a worst-case scenario, had the potential to
leave many families homeless, say Niagara Regional Police.

Marijuana grow-ops have become all too common in Niagara, but until
now they've been confined to single family dwellings or townhouse
units.

The grow-op discovered at Elizabeth High Towers at 378 Vine St. is
the first found within a multi-unit high-rise building, said Staff
Sgt. George Ravenek, head of the police intelligence unit, which
includes the "guns, gangs and grow" unit established last fall.

As chronicled in Niagara This Week's recent 'Bad Seed' series,
grow-ops pose dire electrical, chemical and fire hazards because the
operations typically involve dangerous pesticides, high-intensity
lights and haphazard wiring and hydro bypasses because they require
so much electricity.

The Vine Street operation was no different. Executing a search
warrant Friday, police found two rooms with 171 young marijuana
plants which had a potential street value of $171,000. They also
found pesticides in large vats and electrical wires crudely hooked up
to the outlet normally used for a stove.

Ravenek said the wires were snaked across the floor of the apartment
to the bedrooms, meaning anyone walking in could have been at risk of
being shocked.

St. Catharines is already grappling with trying to find homes for 35
families left homeless after a recent fire at an apartment building
on Roehampton Drive. Ravenek said if the grow-op had caused a serious
fire at the eight-storey Vine Street building, with more than 100
units, many, many more families could have been left homeless.

"There definitely was a risk of fire in that apartment," he
said.

Police were tipped off about the grow-op when workers entered the
apartment as part of ongoing replacement of toilets and showerheads.
A notice posted inside the building's front entrance informed tenants
the work would be carried out between Sept. 11 and 21.

As officers arrived Thursday night, two men arrived who were believed
to be renting the fourth-floor apartment where the grow-op was
discovered. A "scuffle" ensued with police, and one officer suffered
a separated shoulder, said Ravenek.

The two men, from Hamilton and Binbrook, were arrested and charged
with production of a controlled drug. Ravenek said it's not believed
the two men lived in the apartment, which had sophisticated watering
equipment, fans and lights all controlled by timers.

"It was basically a marijuana factory," he said.

Ravenek said the apartment's windows were covered in black plastic so
passersby couldn't see the brilliant lights inside.

"You can't tell me somebody in this building didn't know about this,"
he said.

Two tenants leaving the building as police loaded up confiscated
equipment and marijuana plants said they had no idea the operation
existed.

One woman, who did not want to be identified, lived across from the
apartment with the grow-op. The recently widowed woman heard the
fight between police and the suspects.

"I heard yelling: the guy said, 'Get down, I'm a policeman.' It
scared the heck out of me. I thought, did they find a body?"

Another woman who would only give her first name as Barb said the
building is a safe place to live.

"I've lived here 27 years and we've never had a problem. I wouldn't
be here so long if I didn't feel safe."

Ravenek said the city and the local hydro utility have the authority
to order the building's owner to carry out remediation work to ensure
any health threats from the grow-op are eliminated. He said that
could include such things as mould or pesticide residue in the
building's air ducts, because the grow-op had been set up to vent
into the kitchen and bathroom vents, contamination of drywall or
damage to the apartment's wiring.

Grow-ops have become a multimillion-dollar industry in Niagara, with
police now busting them at a rate of about one a week. Niagara police
said in a news release they want to remind the public of the dangers
of grow-ops and to help them in identifying potential grow-ops by
reporting suspicious activity to police or by calling Crime Stoppers.