[jump /injack]

https://www.thenewstribune.com/2013/1...astrophic.html

As Washingtonians embrace the state’s new law decriminalizing possession of small amounts of marijuana, police and fire agencies are bracing for a new problem: catastrophic fires sparked by people trying to extract oil from their weed.

Authorities say there have been at least two such fires in Pierce County this year, and they expect more as increasing numbers of people get their hands on marijuana.

“I’m very nervous about them,” said Jason Brooks, a Tacoma police detective who specializes in arson cases.

Brooks and Tacoma deputy fire marshal Sue Boczar say back-room methods of extracting hash oil endanger the people who make it, their neighbors, and firefighters and police sent to respond when a fire breaks out.

And they’re not the only ones.

The Office of the State Fire Marshal in New Jersey issued a safety alert in January warning authorities in that state of “a marked increase” in calls for service related to “improvised hash oil preparation.”

“Since this process involves the use of flammable and potentially explosive materials, especially butane, the hazard of fire and/or explosion is great,” according to the safety alert. “This is compounded by the fact that extraction is usually done indoors to avoid detection.”

Such were the circumstances of two fires this year in Pierce County, one of which injured two people and led to criminal charges.

A Tacoma house burned in January after propane someone was using to extract oil from marijuana caught fire, Boczar said. Two people were hurt in Lakewood in February when an explosion rocked their apartment. Police said they found a marijuana grow inside the apartment and evidence that two people were extracting oil from the cannabis.

Those people were hurt and later charged with unlawful manufacture of a controlled substance and reckless burning. They pleaded not guilty earlier this month and await trial.

Boczar said she’s heard of other cases in Pierce County.

Read more here: https://www.thenewstribune.com/2013/1...#storylink=cpy

"It seems like a relatively recent trend of people who have figured out how to turn a benign plant into an explosive."

Burns of a 2nd and 3rd Degree type associated with Butane type explosions below:

https://www.google.com/search?q=2nd+a...w=1345&bih=841

Gray Wolf's safety tips below.

https://skunkpharmresearch.com/butane-safety/

[Thomas Paine]

Montclair police: Suspicious blaze also child-endangerment case
By Beatriz Valenzuela, Press-Telegram and Wes Woods, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin

MONTCLAIR, Calif.
Police said they were investigating a fire at a house containing a marijuana butane laboratory as a child endangerment case after two children were found inside but unharmed.

The reason for the investigation, according to a Montclair Police Department news release issued Sunday, was the inherent danger of a drug lab in the residence.

Three people were taken to a hospital for burns from the early Saturday morning fire, authorities said.

The Montclair Fire Department extinguished the blaze. Arson investigators found evidence of a butane marijuana lab for making “honey oil,” according to the release.

“It was a drug lab,” a Montclair police sergeant who did not want to give his full name said Saturday. “And it’s under investigation. The house has been red tagged and it was totally engulfed in fire. It’s not safe to go into.”

Fire Capt. David Pohl said authorities received several calls around 5:45 a.m. Saturday reporting that a home at 9091 Ramona Ave. was on fire. They also reported explosions, Pohl said.

“As fire crews arrived, they noticed three cars in front of the garage were fully involved and fire was coming out of the roof of the garage,” Pohl said.

The flames had begun to move into the residential portion of the home and caused some damage to the kitchen and living room area.

Firefighters from the Montclair, Upland and Los Angeles County fire departments were able to stop the fire from progressing further, Pohl said.

Damage was estimated at more than $100,000.

Anyone with information on the case is asked to call the Montclair Police Department at 909-621-4771. Callers wishing to remain anonymous can contact the WeTip hotline at 800-78-CRIME.

https://www.dailybulletin.com/general...angerment-case

[Thomas Paine]

Busy week for BHO stories. More kids involved...

Clearlake Couple Arrested During Napa DUI Sweep

Posted by Keri Brenner (Editor) , December 19, 2013 at 10:36 AM

CLEARLAKE, Calif.
A couple from Clearlake were arrested over the weekend on suspicion of manufacturing drugs after a traffic stop at a Napa Police DUI checkpoint.

Elizabeth Cortez, 32, and Ruben Cortez Jr., 28, were taken into custody at about 8:30 p.m. Friday at 2475 Jefferson St., Napa, on the suspected charges, which also included willful cruelty to a child.

According to police, Elizabeth Cortez drove her vehicle with three children under 11 years old and her husband, Ruben Cortez, into the DUI checkpoint at Jefferson Street at George Street.

An officer noticed the vehicle had a strong odor of marijuana coming from it.

The officer searched the vehicle and located over 27 grams of suspected concentrated marijuana ("honey oil"), a honey oil conversion lab, 54 morphine pills and over 200 grams of marijuana, police said.

Evidence of drug sales was also located in the vehicle, police allege.

The couple were arrested and booked into Napa County Department of Corrections.

Children’s Protective Services took custody of the children

https://napavalley.patch.com/groups/p...napa-dui-sweep

[Hashmasta-Kut]

you are reaching now, that last story isnt a disaster, just a shame. this thread is for disaster stories, not drug busts.

[jump /injack]

https://www.staradvertiser.com/news/b...iscovered.html
https://www.staradvertiser.com/news/b...iscovered.html
Big Isle marijuana 'hash oil' lab explodes, severely burning chemist

By Leila Fujimori

POSTED: 03:20 p.m. HST, Dec 30, 2013
LAST UPDATED: 08:51 p.m. HST, Dec 30, 2013

The recent explosion at a butane honey oil lab on Hawaii island serves as evidence that a growing and dangerous practice on the mainland has reached Hawaii shores, police say.
"It's been happening all over the United States, said Hawaii County police Lt. Mark Farias, who recently attended a mainland conference where he learned about the dangers of the extraction of butane honey oil, a byproduct of marijuana that is smoked and "vaped" in e-cigarettes.
"We've been seeing more and more of the finished product and components to extract it," he said.
Unlike a meth lab, however, no actual cooking takes place in a butane honey oil lab.
During the extraction process, canned butane is dispensed into a container of marijuana. The butane acts as a solvent, stripping the plant of its potent oils. That liquid is placed in a water bath and the butane is boiled off, resulting in a concentrated product also known as hash oil or dabs.
On Saturday night, a powerful blast at a lab in Puna blew off cabinet doors, melted metal pipes, knocked out windows and seriously injured a 30-year-old Keaau man, Hawaii County police said. *
The man was taken by private vehicle to a fire station, transported by ambulance to Hilo Medical Center with third-degree burns, and later transferred to an Oahu hospital.
"If your neighbors are doing this, it could affect your kids; it could affect you," Farias said of the violent blast. Although no other homes were damaged, the fire blistered the paint on the door's exterior.
Police recovered 102 marijuana plants from an indoor growing operation, more than an ounce of butane honey oil, three e-cigarettes, and components used to manufacture the oil.
The oil derivative can contain up to 100 percent THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, Farias said. It has a honey-like consistency but is slightly less viscous.
Honolulu police recently confiscated a parcel containing e-cigarettes and a liquid substance that tested positive for THC, but no arrests have been made, said Teresa Bell, a spokeswoman for the Honolulu Police Department.
Farias noted that while marijuana users often smoke the buds of the plant, the usually discarded trimmings can be used to derive the potent oil.
In February, the Federal Emergency Management Agency's U.S. Fire Administration alerted the emergency services sector that explosions from these home labs during a process using butane to extract and concentrate compounds from marijuana are increasing across the country.
These explosions are sometimes misidentified as pipe bombs or meth labs because of the extraction vessel used, the FEMA article said.
The initial explosions can lead to secondary explosions and fires, FEMA reported.*
"Butane is highly explosive, colorless, odorless and heavier than air and therefore can travel along the floor until it encounters an ignition source," it said.
Butane honey oil has been around for a while and smoked, but is now being "vaped" in e-cigarettes, without the smelly smoke of a joint.
Rolling Stone magazine reported June 20 that butane honey oil costs between $25 and $100 a gram, depending on where you live.
A Dec. 4, 2003, Cannabis Culture Marijuana Magazine article said: "It's the concentrated liquid essence of marijuana, and it doesn't take much of it to completely stone you, though it's mind numbing power makes it an acquired taste."
The oil can be spread on a paper and rolled into a joint, inhaled through a straw from a hot knife, steamed in a vaporizer or dropped onto ashes in a bong, the magazine said.

https://www.google.com/search?q=hash+...w=1555&bih=861

Pictures are worth a thousand words sometimes. Here is some pictures of the aftermath of miscalculation and stupidity, a compilation of disaster; click on the pictures for the stories that go along with them.

[jump /injack]

https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/loca...238550371.html

An explosion in East Village gave residents a scare on Thursday night as a two-alarm fire caused a building evacuation at 900 F St.
Fire officials say the explosion was caused by a hash oil extraction using butane in a third floor apartment. A man has severe burns to his hands and arms.
It looked like firefighters had everything under control but then the building started showing heavy smoke and it became a two-alarm fire.
People who live in the building say they felt an explosion and then heard the fire alarms. Some didn't take it seriously because they've had false alarms here but when they stepped out their apartments they knew this was serious.
Firefighters say the fire extended into the into the walls and up to the fourth floor. About five units have been affected and there's no word when people will be let back into their apartments.

[jump /injack]

https://seattletimes.com/html/localne...ndfirexml.html


Two Kirkland men trying to make hash oil from marijuana caused an explosion Wednesday night that severely damaged two apartments, according to Kirkland police.
Police said Thursday that Robby W. Meiser, 45, and his roommate, Bruce W. Mark, 62, were using butane to convert marijuana to hash oil in their second-floor apartment at 7216 N.E. 142nd St. when the explosion occurred around 9 p.m.
Meiser and Mark suffered minor to moderate burns on their upper bodies and were transported to Harborview Medical Center, police said.
The blast ignited a fire that one of the occupants put out with a fire extinguisher. The explosion caused an estimated $100,000 in damage to their apartment and one below it, police said, and both were condemned by the city’s fire inspector.
The most popular way of making hash oil — a high-potency extract — now involves flammable solvents, particularly butane, which can be bought in hardware stores.
Usually a glass or steel canister is stuffed with dried pot. The canister is then flooded with a solvent such as butane, which strips away the psychotropic plant oils.
The resulting golden-brown goo is then purged of the solvent. Common methods include boiling it off in a hot-water bath.
The danger comes mainly in improper ventilation. Butane is heavier than air and tends to sink and puddle in a closed room. Sparks can cause fires and explosions.
“That is exactly what happened,” said Lt. Mike Murray of the Kirkland Police Department.
Hash-oil explosions have been reported in recent months in Chicago, San Francisco, Colorado and more locally, in Mount Vernon.
Murray said Meiser is a designated provider of medical marijuana for several patients and had about 40 plants growing in his apartment.
Because some medical patients prefer to use concentrated-marijuana extracts in oils, tinctures and food, Murray said the manufacturing of hash oil for such purposes appears to be allowed.
But because the extraction was done in a residential area without proper ventilation, Murray said a charge of reckless endangerment, a misdemeanor, could be sought.
He said the case is still under investigation and will be turned over to the city attorney for potential prosecution.
Under the state’s new, regulated recreational-pot system created by Initiative 502, such an incident couldn’t occur, according to state officials.
No recreational businesses have been licensed yet. But when they are, no licensed business can be in residences.
Also, state rules don’t allow crude equipment and set certain safety standards for extraction, including closed-loop systems that keep flammable gases from escaping.
“I fervently hope that once I-502 marijuana-processing licenses are issued and processing is able to be legally done in commercial areas that we will see an end to people trying to do this kind of thing in private homes, which is very dangerous not only to them, but to neighbors,” said Kirkland City Councilmember Toby Nixon

had this happen to a kid I kno.. he blew up his house.. and almost killed his 2 dogs him and his gf.. suffered from 3rd degree burns over the upper part of his body. becareful dudes.. and do this away from anyone.. be alone lol.. and smart.

[jump /injack]

https://www.utsandiego.com/news/2014/...enue-f-street/


HASH-OIL EXTRACTION CAUSES FIRE

SAN DIEGO — Butane fumes from a hash-oil extraction lab exploded into a two-alarm fire and burned one man at an East Village apartment building Thursday night, officials said.
More than 40 firefighters responded to the four-story, 117-unit building at Ninth Avenue and F Street after the blast about 8:45 p.m. San Diego police evacuated residents.
Damage was estimated at more than $1.2 million, a fire official said.
The butane explosion occurred in the kitchen of a third-floor unit, where the man was injured, said Lee Swanson, a spokesman for the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department. The man, whose name was not released, was hospitalized with burns, primarily to his hands, Swanson said.
Flames in the kitchen were doused by a sprinkler system, but firefighters found more fire in the wall and roof, prompting the second alarm, Swanson said.
Two adjacent units and a fourth-floor unit were damaged. Two units on the second floor had water damage, he said. Total damage was estimated at $950,000 to the building and $300,000 to its contents.
The regional Narcotics Task Force was called to investigate the lab, said Amy Roderick, spokeswoman for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. She said there were dozens of empty, 8- to 16-ounce butane canisters in the apartment.
Based on the size of the explosion, fumes must have been building up in the apartment all day during processes to extract high-potency hash oil from marijuana, Roderick said.
The Red Cross assisted residents in the damaged apartments.

[The fireball from a butane explosion in over 3000 degree's F, you will not walk away unharmed. All of these explosions and fires with one exception were in doors, all participants went to the hospital with major burns, closed loop in a commercial area is the only way, be safe out there.]

[Dick Turpin]

I still can not believe that people make oil indoors....