Pubdate: Tue, 30 Jan 2007 Source: Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, FL) Copyright: 2007 Sun-Sentinel Company Contact: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/159 Author: Marlene Naanes, South Florida Sun-Sentinel Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Marijuana) FIRE CALL LEADS TO HOLLYWOOD HOUSE'S MARIJUANA STASH Hollywood firefighters extinguishing a fire found more than just smoke in a Hollywood house Monday afternoon. After firefighters put out the fire, which was shooting through an attic above the kitchen just before noon, rescue workers smelled marijuana wafting from two rooms, one partially blocked by a fake wall, in the home. In the rooms, they found a hydroponics lab filled with about 250 adult plants, some 6 to 7 feet tall, Hollywood Police spokesman Capt. Tony Rode said. Police seized the lab equipment and plants, which had a street value of about $300,0000, Rode said. Illegal and dangerous electrical wiring that fed into the house seems to have caused the fire, Rode said. Florida Power & Light Co. workers shut off electricity to the home. No one was in the house at the time of the fire, and the house appeared to be uninhabited, Rode said. No furniture was found in the single-family home. Police are trying to determine who owns the house, which is in the 600 block of North 31st Avenue, and if the owner may have rented the home to the person growing the marijuana. The investigation is ongoing, Rode said. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake