Black smoke could be seen as far away as Burnaby after a huge barn fire on the Surrey side of Port Kells Monday morning.
It is Surrey RCMP’s understanding that the former mushroom barn was housing a large medicinal marijuana grow operation when it went up in smoke around 9 a.m. The fire took place at 18646 88 Ave.
Police and Surrey fire investigators have spoken to the owner who was renting out the building. The fire burned the building down to ashes and there was little firefighters could do to stop it.
Surrey RCMP said Monday afternoon that the fire is still too hot for investigators to look into what sparked the blaze. While there are some “allegations” made by the owner that the fire is suspicious, Cpl. Bert Paquet said police aren’t willing to say that at this time.
Tuesday marks the end of licenses for home grown legal medicinal marijuana grow operations. As of April 1, medical marijuana will only be allowed to be grown in commercial buildings, not in individual homes. The new federal legislation has been challenged by growers and users, and an injunction issued by the Federal Court is allowing growers to continue to grow medicinal marijuana, pending the appeal of the legislation.
Results of a recent Freedom of Information request, passed on to The Times, shows that there were 482 medicinal marijuana licences issued to individuals in Langley, as of March 14.