2012年11月6日,科罗拉多州选民批准阿门dment 64, a measure intended to regulate marijuana like alcohol in the state; it became law on January 1, 2013. As a result, the Aurora (CO) Fire Department (AFD) Fire and Explosives Investigation Bureau (FEIB) was trained on the manufacture, the use, and the hazards of marijuana concentrate, commonly known as butane hash oil (BHO). The FEIB is staffed by three full-time fire and explosives investigators and two on-call investigators. As the bureau’s captain, I supervise two lieutenant investigators as well as the on-call investigators. All investigators have served at least three years as firefighter/emergency medical technicians or paramedics, operating as online firefighters certified and commissioned police officers, and are certified as bomb-paratechnicians, working and training as part of the bomb squad. The fire department’s first incident involving BHO manufacturing occurred in December 2013. In the next six months, the department would respond to an average of two BHO incidents a month.
On December 16, 2013, AFD crews responded to an explosion in a multifamily dwelling. The initial crew reported that an explosion had occurred inside a single unit and there was only a small smoldering fire, which personnel extinguished. The crew noticed that a refrigerator/freezer unit had sustained the most damage from the explosion (photo 1). The battalion chief thought it was odd for a refrigerator to explode. The battalion chief requested that a fire and explosives investigator from the department’s FEIB respond to the scene.
Fire and Explosives Investigator Jeff Johnson responded to the scene to conduct a fire origin and cause investigation into the explosion and smoldering fire. Johnson determined that an exothermic overpressure event had occurred inside the residence. The area of origin for the initial event was determined to be inside the freezer portion of the refrigerator/freezer. In photo 2, note the pattern emanating from the fan unit of the freezer. The force of the explosion blew the refrigerator and freezer doors off their hinges and sent food through the window across the kitchen. The investigator noted a melted plastic bowl inside the freezer that contained ground-up marijuana plant product. On the kitchen counter, he documented marijuana plants and paraphernalia and various glassware with coffee filters secured over the top of the glass (photos 3, 4). When Johnson went to interview the residents, he found that they had left the scene. The fire explosion would remain an open case for further investigation as the FEIB could not determine the first fuel ignited.
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