Three men who police said were illegally extracting oil from marijuana were burned Thursday in an explosion at their trailer off Rock Creek Road in the Keswick area of Shasta County.
Crews with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection were dispatched to the 15000 block of Rock Creek Road just before 5 p.m. after a report of the fire in the fifth-wheel trailer.
Firefighters quickly put out the blaze that destroyed the trailer and a nearby vehicle, said Sgt. Les James of the Shasta Interagency Narcotic Task Force.
James said fire investigators believed the fire was caused by criminal activity and deputies initially thought the trailer was a methamphetamine lab, according to Shasta County sheriff’s call logs.
SINTF investigators later determined the fire started because the men were using a highly flammable solvent to convert marijuana into “hash oil,” James said. Vapors from the solvent caught fire from a pilot light in the trailer, causing the explosion.
The oil has many uses, but using chemicals to manufacture it is illegal “obviously because of what happened,” James said.
“They put it in cigarettes, smoke it,” he said. “There are so many different recipes or uses out there.”
Neighbors told SINTF agents that three people burned in the fire left for an area hospital, James said.
Deputies later caught up with 35-year-old Kenneth Neil Dolan of Redding, 42-year-old Brian James Fleischauer of Anderson, and 19-year-old Jacob Lee Clements of Shasta at the hospital.
Dolan was treated and released for burns to his lower legs. Clements suffered burns on his legs and arms. Fleischauer suffered burns to his head, back and both arms.
Fleischauer was taken to UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento for further treatment, where he was listed in serious condition Friday, a hospital representative said.
None of the men was arrested, and James said the case is still under investigation.
“We’ll probably go with a complaint on all three … right now the medical treatment is probably more important,” James said.
Categories: Marijuana News
Tags: fire, Hash oil, Shasta County
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