Marijuana Grow House Goes Up in Smoke

Firefighters called out to a Tampa home Tuesday night stumbled across thousands of dollars’ worth of illegal drugs as they worked to battle the blaze.

It seems the home at 4408 Perch St. doubled as an indoor marijuana grow operation, according to the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office. When the blaze broke out late Tuesday, Hillsborough County Fire Rescue responded and found “heavy smoke and flames coming from the back part of the home,” an email from fire rescue stated.

Firefighters from the county and the cities of Temple Terrace and Tampa worked in tandem to put out the flames. All told, the job took the agencies about an hour to tackle, fire rescue spokesman Ronnie Rivera wrote in an email to media.

Once inside, firefighters uncovered an extensive grow operation and called on the sheriff’s office for assistance once it was obvious that “rooms had been converted for the sole purpose of cultivating marijuana,” sheriff’s office spokeswoman Cristal Bermudez Nunez said.

After obtaining a search warrant, the sheriff’s office entered the home and found one room with 15 large plants and 13 smaller marijuana plants. Tampa Electric Co. was also called out and discovered that electricity to the home was illegal and unmetered.

Marijuana seized during the search weighed a total of 306 pounds, which adds up to “an estimated street value of $765,000,” Bermudez Nunez said.

While firefighters reported the home’s residents were not there when they arrived, Bermudez Nunez says suspects have been identified.

“Future arrests are forthcoming,” she said.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

Photos courtesy of the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office and Fire Rescue