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Ranchettes house fire leads to pot

For the second time in a week, a house fire has led to a grow-op

A fire destroyed a home in the 6100 block of Horse Lake Road North late in the evening of May 12.

100 Mile House Fire-Rescue members responded to the structure fire at 11:08 p.m., says fire chief Darrell Blades.

"We were on scene for about four hours with about an hour-and-a-half of cleanup. When we arrived, there was a fully involved residential structure fire."

The lone occupant was on the property, Blades says, but was not in the building at the time of the fire.

100 Mile House Fire-Rescue responded with 13 members and a command vehicle, an engine, a brush unit and a tender, Blades says.

They were assisted by seven members from Lone Butte Volunteer Fire Department along with a rescue and tender, and the 108 Mile Ranch Volunteer Fire Department responded with seven members, a command vehicle and two tenders.

"Water was shuttled by the four tenders, as the area does not have fire-hydrant protection," says Blades.

"We [100 Mile House Fire-Rescue] left the scene at 2:05 a.m., and with clean-up time at the hall, the members finished just before 4 a.m."

He adds the RCMP, BC Ambulance Service, Fortis and BC Hydro also assisted at the scene.

The fire is not considered suspicious and an investigation is under way, Blades says.

They returned to the scene around 8:30 a.m. to deal with a rekindle on the backside of the building, Blades says, adding it was from all the debris and the crew was on the scene for about an hour.

In a separate out-building, there was a small amount of marijuana plants, says RCMP Sgt. Don McLean.

"I can confirm there were some marijuana plants seized," he says, adding there were less than 70 plants.

"It's still early in the investigation."