Refrigerator Explodes In Marijuana-Distilling Operation

[MedicalNeed]

COOS BAY – An attempt to distill the active ingredient from marijuana caused a refrigerator-demolishing explosion at a home on Monday, fire investigators in Coos County have concluded.

The Charleston Fire Department got a report at about 1:05 p.m. of a loud explosion on Jerome Road, Coos County Sheriff's Department Sgt. Pat Downing wrote in a news release. Fire crews found that a refrigerator at the home had exploded, shattering a window, dislodging cupboard doors and drawers, and scattering food around the kitchen. Firefighters called for the help of the sheriff's department and the state fire marshal's office to figure out what happened.

Investigators determined that one of four people living at the house had been extracting THC from marijuana with a method that used butane gas, Downing said. It appears that butane gas had built up in the home and when the freezer portion of the refrigerator turned on, a small spark ignited the butane gas, which caused the explosion. No fire erupted, but the blast blew the door off the refrigerator and through a wall in the home, Downing said.

Photos from the scene show a broken window, dangling light fixture and damage throughout the kitchen.

An 18-year-old woman at the home was resting on a couch and was uninjured in the explosion, Downing's release said. Investigators suspect that the force of the blast and flying debris could have seriously injured anyone standing in the kitchen or living room.

Deputies are working to determine if any of the home's residents had a valid medical marijuana card, Downing reported. He said the case will be referred to Coos County prosecutors for review of possible drug charges.


NewsHawk: MedicalNeed:420 MAGAZINE
Source:mailtribune.com
Author: Anita Burke
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Copyright: 2010 The Mail Tribune, Inc.
Website:Refrigerator explodes in marijuana-distilling operation | MailTribune.com

 

[TorturedSoul]

I guess that helps explain why many sites frown on discussion of using butane for an extraction tool - and why open discussion should be allowed, since some people (myself included) are going to use it from time to time and with discussion comes warnings about the valid dangers.

Butane + enclosed space + spark (almost any electrical device can produce them) = disaster.

If you're going to do an extraction with butane, use common sense. You put that stuff in your lighter, spin the wheel to make a spark, and you have a flame. Works almost every time - and that is a small amount of butane in a controlled device.

DON'T do it around open flames, sparks, or within the confines of any electrical device (I stopped doing it in the kitchen years ago even though I had an electrical stove (no pilot lights) and a handy powered vent because of the small chance that the motor in the vent could cause ignition.

Also, remember that butane evaporates at a rather low temperature and as it does so, things get COLD. Frost can and will form when it is allowed to evaporate and your fingers/skin will get cold.

To anyone who uses butane for extractions, please use common sense and be safe! Like many (most?) things in life, it is perfectly safe with proper thought and preparation - but can be deadly without it.

Err... Sorry to rant in your thread, MedicalNeed.

EDIT: Hash oil explosions

 

[G-Dog]

You should not even do that inside a building at all. There are literally thousands of places a spark can occur and also places the gas can accumulate.

I have people in Coos Bay and could end up living there some day.

 

[diggler35007]

im surprized this did not make a national headline , as a reefer maddness type of deal .

 

[MedicalNeed]

I see articles about every month with this same outcome, I will post them now and again as to show the dangers of such blatant inconsideration to physics.

 

[diggler35007]

now that i think about it , that makes the rest of us look bad . but hey , there are bad apples in each and every bunch .

 

[G-Dog]

I really like BHO, but man you have to be careful. Probably best not to make it when you are high.