FruityBud
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About 40 mature marijuana plants went up in smoke during a house fire just outside the Ocala city limits early Wednesday morning.
A family of six, including two children, were in the rental property at 2004 S.W. 38th Court at the the time, but everyone got out safely. The plants - and most of the fire damage - were in a room of the house reportedly kept separate from the living quarters.
One of the occupants, Stephanie Dinas, 19, said she lived there with her parents and her 15-year-old brother and 11-year-old sister.
She said they were asleep inside the three-bedroom home when they got a knock on the door from someone who told them their house was on fire. They ran out and called for help.
She said the family is from Providence, R.I. They had lived in the house, which they rent from an uncle of hers in Rhode Island, for three years.
Dinas said she was unaware there was marijuana in another part of the house. That room, she said, was kept locked up.
"It is a shock to us," Dinas said. "We don't want anything to do with that."
Marion County sheriff's Sgt. David McClain said the potted marijuana plants were 20 to 30 inches tall. Grow lights, irrigation, air conditioning - all the makings of a grow house operations - were present in the room.
Local drug agents were investigating the scene Wednesday morning. It was the 18th marijuana grow operation found in the county so far this year.
Several additional marijuana plants were also found in the back yard, as if someone might have been removing them from the house, drug agents said. Agents were seeking a search warrant for the home.
Ocala Fire Rescue got the call at 3:51 a.m. and were at the fire in a couple of minutes. Fire officials had not yet given a cause for the fire. An investigator from State Fire Marshal's Office was expected on scene.
http://shuurl.com/C5092
A family of six, including two children, were in the rental property at 2004 S.W. 38th Court at the the time, but everyone got out safely. The plants - and most of the fire damage - were in a room of the house reportedly kept separate from the living quarters.
One of the occupants, Stephanie Dinas, 19, said she lived there with her parents and her 15-year-old brother and 11-year-old sister.
She said they were asleep inside the three-bedroom home when they got a knock on the door from someone who told them their house was on fire. They ran out and called for help.
She said the family is from Providence, R.I. They had lived in the house, which they rent from an uncle of hers in Rhode Island, for three years.
Dinas said she was unaware there was marijuana in another part of the house. That room, she said, was kept locked up.
"It is a shock to us," Dinas said. "We don't want anything to do with that."
Marion County sheriff's Sgt. David McClain said the potted marijuana plants were 20 to 30 inches tall. Grow lights, irrigation, air conditioning - all the makings of a grow house operations - were present in the room.
Local drug agents were investigating the scene Wednesday morning. It was the 18th marijuana grow operation found in the county so far this year.
Several additional marijuana plants were also found in the back yard, as if someone might have been removing them from the house, drug agents said. Agents were seeking a search warrant for the home.
Ocala Fire Rescue got the call at 3:51 a.m. and were at the fire in a couple of minutes. Fire officials had not yet given a cause for the fire. An investigator from State Fire Marshal's Office was expected on scene.
http://shuurl.com/C5092
