£1.2m Aintree cannabis farm blaze guts cafe and leaves pensioner needing medical treatment

£1.2m Aintree cannabis farm which sparked major blaze

A blaze which left a Liverpool pensioner needing medical treatment was sparked by a £1.2m cannabis farm fire.

The 65-year-old was rescued from his Aintree home by firefighters suffering smoke inhalation after the blaze in a neighbouring flat.

And Parkers café below the first-floor cannabis farm in Warbreck Moor was also badly damaged as the fire spread during the early hours of this morning.

Fire investigators and detectives believe the cause of the blaze was the hazardous electrics often found in cannabis farms.

Criminals try to avoid being caught by by-passing the electricity meter.

Officers found 302 cannabis plants being grown in four rooms of the flat capable of producing up to £1.2 million worth of cannabis in a year.

A police investigation is now underway to find the criminal gang 'responsible for putting lives at risk by growing the drug'.

Detective Chief Superintendent Paul Richardson, the head of Merseyside Police’s Matrix Serious Organised Crime investigation unit, urged members of the public to report suspicious activity to the police or the anonymous Crimestoppers hotline to help make their own communities safer.

He said: "Cannabis is not a harmless drug and the quantities we are finding every day shows its not just people doing it to feed their own casual habit but in fact organised criminal gangs who pose a real risk to the wider community.

"In their efforts to protect what is a lucrative criminal enterprise from their rivals, these criminals bring problems such as violence and gun crime to the streets of Merseyside where decent, law-abiding people live.

"Sadly, these farms are being set up in residential areas where innocent people live and these criminals are putting everyone else’s lives at risk.

"Cannabis farms are a serious fire risk in that the electricity meters are almost always tampered with to steal electricity, hot lamps will have been rigged up to simulate ideal growing conditions, and a watering system will also be in place, often dangerous close to electricity.

"These criminals care little about the people their crude handiwork may harm and yet again, in this case in Warbreck Moor, the fire service have attended a house fire only to discover a cannabis farm alight.

"It is only thanks to their swift response that no-one was seriously harmed, however it is tragic that the local business below has been so badly damaged and a person’s livelihood jeopardised.

"The public can stop it reaching this dangerous stage by telling us where these cannabis farms are and who is behind them. We launched a highly successful awareness campaign this summer with Crimestoppers and the fire service to educate people and reporting has increased as a result.

"Tell-tale signs such as covered up windows, a pungent smell, suspicious comings and goings, all point towards a cannabis farm operating where you live and my message to you is: don’t leave reporting it until it is too late. You and your family could be sleeping next door to one of these drugs factories when they go up in flames and the consequences do not bear thinking about.”

Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service Station Manager Craig Whitfield said: "Cannabis farms and locations where cannabis is grown are dangerous. They pose a great risk to members of the public and firefighters alike.

"Any tampering with the electrical supply or wiring installation in a property can cause a fire, which also poses a risk to those who live nearby.

"Bypassing the electricity can also cause metal in a building to become ‘live’ therefore raising the risks of electrocution and posing extra dangers to the emergency services called to the site and others.”

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/12m-aintree-cannabis-farm-blaze-8194807 28/11/2014