Pubdate: Wed, 12 Sep 2007 Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC) Copyright: 2007 The Vancouver Sun Contact: http://www.canada.com/vancouver/vancouversun/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/477 Author: Marisa Babic, Surrey Now Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada) INSPECTION PROGRAM TO CRACK DOWN ON POT GROWERS WORKING, FIRE CHIEF SAYS SURREY - When the city launched a program to have the fire department inspect homes using suspicious amounts of power, some wondered if it was worth the effort. Wonder no more. "It's working," Chief Len Garis says. Surrey's crackdown on marijuana growing operations through its Electrical and Fire Safety Inspection program has shut down a number of illicit operations and led to a drop in the number of house fires in the city, according to a report for Surrey city council from Garis. The report shows that between July 27, 2006 and June 25, 2007, 65 per cent of the places inspected were no longer attracting the attention of the program. Marijuana growers often tamper with electrical equipment in houses they either own or rent to bypass the system to tap into free electricity for their marijuana cultivation. This tampering frequently leads to fires because of improperly installed homemade systems, which results in shock and fire hazards. Surrey's program, which is now being adopted by other cities, was launched in response to the high number of fires caused by marijuana growers in the city. In partnership with BC Hydro, the EFSI initiative allows electrical inspections of houses that are consuming higher than normal levels of electricity. In 2006, the first full year of the EFSI program, the number of fires sparked by growing operations dropped to 3.7 per cent, or nine fires, which was a 40 per cent decrease from the previous year. In January of 2007, the Surrey EFSI team was expanded and inspected 1,000 addresses obtained from Hydro that meet the criteria of unusually high consumption. Inspections conducted during the first half of 2007 identified electrical deficiencies in 86 per cent of the homes inspected, or nearly nine of out every 10 places inspected. - --- MAP posted-by: Derek