Garage Fire Smokes Out Pot Garden
City firefighters found more than 1,200 marijuana plants in a Van Nuys garage early Sunday morning after battling a blaze caused by faulty electrical wiring, authorities said.
The fire began shortly after 5 a.m. in the 15100 block of Hamlin Street. It burned the roof and wall of a detached garage behind a house, said Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Brian Humphrey.
After firefighters extinguished the blaze, they found the marijuana. Narcotics detectives with the Los Angeles Police Department counted 1,278 plants in the garage.
Police arrested Greg Collier, 24, who lives at the house, on suspicion of cultivating marijuana. He was being held Sunday night in lieu of $50,000 bail in Van Nuys Jail, said LAPD spokesman Don Cox.
The marijuana ranged from seedlings to plants 5 feet tall, police said.
Investigators attributed the fire to illegal wiring used to power a hydroponic farm, Humphrey said. Officials estimated the damage to the garage at $35,000.
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