Oakland house fire reveals 150 marijuana plants

OAKLAND — A man and a woman were arrested Tuesday morning after firefighters — responding to a blaze in a home the pair rented in the Oakland foothills — discovered about 150 marijuana plants inside the residence, police said.
The one-alarm fire started in the 4400 block of Moraga Avenue just after 8 a.m., and firefighters had it extinguished a half-hour later, officials said.

The firefighters found the pot plants upon entering the building, and alerted police.

Police would not identify the people who were arrested.

One of them was treated for smoke inhalation, but police would not say which one.

Investigators were still determining what charges the pair would face, and believed they may have been stealing electricity to run their grow lamps, police spokesman Roland Holmgren said.

Police discovered plants in all stages of growth, Holmgren said.

Some plants had been stripped for packaging, he added.

“Nine times out of 10, this is how we find these guys,” he said, referring to the pair who were arrested. “They’re growing illegally and they don’t know how to use their equipment and they start a fire.”

Holmgren said police found a medical marijuana card inside the house, but not a grower’s license.

Neighbors later reported seeing strangely covered windows and smelling the plants

West Coast 911 news source - Oakland Tribune