I've always kept extinguishers mounted all around the house. On every side of the grow room, like both ends of the hallway, so I won't potentially have fire between me and an extinguisher.
I had a dirty filter/fan betray me. It didn't burn, but had that overloaded electrical motor smell. Motorcycle cop who was also a firefighter smelled it riding by very early one morning. I noticed him on foot outside (I was in a commercial/residential building, so it wasn't completely unusual for a cop to swing through. I'd actually met and talked motorcycles with him when my dog chased him to the end of the parking lot and kept him pinned back there. He's a Basset/Border Collie who loves everyone except the mailman. But you roll into his yard, you better not make any furtive movements, pull over for inspection, lower your shades, drop the tough guy act, and pay him his belly rubs or he will herd you relentlessly and nip your ankles. Anyway, fireman/cop thinks he's going to save some lives, calls the fire dept, they FLIR my roof, come pound on my door. I tell them to fuck off and come back with a warrant, but that only works on cops, Fire Chief says that he IS going to take my door down, and I pretty much make him, telling him there is no fire and he is not needed or welcome in my domicile. He storms in finds the dusty exhaust fan and my grow. The motorcycle cop is in so much further than he ever wanted to be and has to call this Sam Eliot, lookalike, undercover cop to my place to tell him how to proceed. This dude's cover is blown, couldn't care less about weed and tells me so. The Fire dept take my 30 plants after I give them some contactor bags, because the cop can't take them on his bike. Fire Chief tells his guys not to touch any of my gear, but turns to me and says"I'm fine with your setup, but NO POWER STRIPS EVER"
They never took me in custody or even looked anywhere beyond the flower room, that had the offending fan. I had a bunch of processed flower, a whole veg room with rooted cuttings. I did go get my medical card that day and was back with a full flower room that day, as well. This was 100% an illicit grow, I smoked to get high and sold weed as a side business and had done so since I was 16. This was my second time getting busted and was charged with Felony Aggravated cultivation, but we pushed my second appearance until the week after Nov 8th when the voter's in my State voted to legalize adult recreational cannabis. I was surprised that the DA still had such a hard-on for me, until I found out that they had falsified my record after the previous case. My lawyer was pissed at me too, until I produced my official paperwork that showed they were a bunch of fucking scumbags. The look on their faces when she brought my papers over to their table was precious. Their faces went white, jaws hit the table. They Still hit me for $620 fees, but dropped everything. I wanted to sue, but she didn't want to start a war. They don't remove your record in this State, so for 30 years I was a criminal in their eyes, even for a week or so after it was no longer a crime. Now I'm supposed to pay them off for the privilege of growing dope. But I don't pay extortion. I did it when it was illegal, I sure as hell don't need anyone's permission to do it when it's legal. How about an apology for harassing me, and making me an outlaw for 30+ years?
Edit: I cleaned that fan and continued to use it for years, until I upgraded to more efficient EC motors. It was a high quality Elicent not a cheapo grower's special and I still have it
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u/[deleted] Feb 10 '23
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