POLICE NOT CHARGING POT GROWER

HARBOURVILLE - Police say they won't be laying charges after some
marijuana plants were found at a barn fire in Harbourville, north of
Berwick, on Wednesday morning.

Sgt. Mike Holland of Kingston RCMP said the owner of the barn suffers
from a serious illness and is trying to get medicinal marijuana in
consultation with a doctor, but was growing the plants in the
meantime. He described the man as open and co-operative.

"He's trying to get the paperwork," Sgt. Holland said. "The doctor
thought (medicinal marijuana) would help him. He wasn't growing it to
sell."

He said police didn't look at the case as a serious issue, but they
warned the man what can happen with charges for cultivation.

Police seized the plants and will have them destroyed, he said.

The small number of plants were found in a room attached to a
900-square-foot barn that caught fire just before 10 a.m.

Berwick Fire Chief Stephen Palmer said the man was working on the
wiring on a vehicle inside the barn and went inside the house for a
while before noticing smoke coming from the building. After trying to
extinguish the flames, first with a garden hose and then with a
blanket, he told his wife to call 911.

Chief Palmer said the fire was coming through the roof when crews
arrived.

He said firefighters using a thermal imaging camera found propane,
acetylene and oxygen tanks inside the building despite the dense smoke
and were able to remove them before they exploded.

Three of the tanks had started venting off gas through the safety
valves because of the heat inside.

"We were really, really fortunate," the chief said.

While the barn is still standing, it is structurally unsound, he said.

There were no injuries. Firefighters from Berwick, Kentville,
Waterville and Aylesford were on the scene for about two hours.