Sun Valley pot operation goes up in smoke

An overnight fire in a Sun Valley commercial building that authorities said contained substantial stores of marijuana was being investigated Sunday. The pot operation also has become a subject of the inquiry.

A neighboring businessman described the adjacent tenants as friendly, but secretive and security-conscious.

“I knew they weren’t operating a winery,” said James Reidy. “They were very private. And they were nice to me. The security around it was fairly tough. They had a heavy-duty door.”

The fire call came about 11:45 p.m. and firefighters quickly alerted police when they noticed what was inside the flaming structure, at Mission Industrial Park in the 8100 block of Clybourn Avenue, said Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Brian Humphrey.

Pending a review, investigators were not prepared to call the operation illegal, given that the marijuana may have been grown legally for medical purposes.

“I don’t know if they had some kind of licensing,” said Sgt. David Tomilin of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Foothill Division. “It’s obviously not for personal use based on the amount. The stuff we could book was in trash cans in 30 to 40 pound bags.”

Officers were able to book more than 100 pounds into evidence Sunday morning. At the site, there were bags, apparently of marijuana, visible inside and outside of the nondescript, unmarked building.

“A lot of marijuana had been burned, but I’m not sure how much went up in smoke,” Tomilin said.

Fire officials on Sunday had yet to compile a damage estimate or release an official cause.

But the damage to the one unit was “extensive,” said a maintenance coordinator for Ratner Property Management, which oversees Mission Industrial Park. The coordinator — who gave only his first name, Jim — added that investigators told him that the fire was “electrical in nature.”

howard.blume@latimes.com