Firefighters responding to an electrical fire in Croydon had a surprise after fighting the blaze - the discovery of a cannabis farm.
The blaze, which took place in a house on Kimberly Road, Thornton Heath on Wednesday last week, was believed to be caused by a faulty fuse board sparking.
The house in question is said to be badly damaged by the fire and after putting it out, firefighters had to call in the police after a significant amount of cannabis plants were found on the property as well.
As it stands no arrests have been made as the homeowner has apparently not returned to the house since the fire.
Cannabis farms traditionally use a lot of electrical equipment, including high-powered heat lamps, to help the plants grow in indoor conditions. It’s possible that the overloaded fuse board was caused by a significant amount of these lights and other equipment being installed into sockets, which caused too much current to flow through the fuse board at once.
There’s also the possibility that the two incidents aren’t actually related, but since no one was hurt in the actual fire, it’s great that something like this has helped to clamp down on drug circulation around the Croydon area.
Anyone with information can contact police on 020 8721 2711 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
