A
refrigerator that exploded in San Diego Thursday led police to finding marijuana plants and a hash oil extraction operation in the California home. Authorities say the fire caused by the eruption took firefighters about 30 minutes to put out, AP reports.
A neighbor reported flames coming from the home in the citys Encanto neighborhood at about 4:20 p.m., a San Diego fire spokesman Maurice Luque,
told U-T San Diego. No one was injured in the explosion, but police officers discovered hash oil was being made in the home. They took three people into custody for questioning.
In the past year,
explosions caused by hash oil have risen in San Diego, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration. Law enforcement has responses to three significant explosions in the area, including one at a hotel in January that severely burned three people, ABC 10 News reports. The DEA has found at least six other hash oil operations but no explosions were reported.
Hash oil, also known as BHO, has risen in popularity among marijuana users. The substance ranges in consistencies from hard amber-colored to soft earwax-like goop. A piece
the size of a Tic-Tac could be as potent as smoking an entire joint, Rolling Stone Magazine reports.
Hash oil is extracted by putting has into a tube and forcing a solvent, which is usually the highly flammable gas, butane, through it. The solvent is evaporated, leaving just the plants resins -- most of which contains psychoactive chemicals, including high levels of THC
that can exceed 80 percent.
