Investigation after cannabis grow found in Telford house fire
150 fully grown plants and 300 younger ones were found
A cannabis grow has been found after West Mercia Police attended a house fire in Telford.
At around 7.25pm on Thursday 18 April officers responded to reports of a house fire on Stanwyk in Sutton Hill.
Shropshire Fire Service was already at the scene when officers arrived, where it had been discovered that around 150 fully grown cannabis plants were inside, along with 300 infant plants.
No one was in the property, and no arrests have been made. Enquiries into the grow continue.
Detective Sergeant Tim Atherton, said: “Cannabis farms not only impact negatively on their local communities as they are not only often linked to serious and organised criminal gangs, but they are dangerous to run and can have devastating impacts on our neighbourhoods.
“Luckily this fire was put out by the fire service before it could spread to other properties, but this could have had a much worse outcome.
"The local community can help us by continuing to report any signs of criminal activity – the easiest way to do this is on our website.”
Assistant Chief Fire Officer Adam Matthews, from Shropshire Fire and Rescue added: "Once the fire was extinguished we carried out a fire investigation and believe the blaze was started by faulty electrics. Any changes to electrical supplies that are not done by professionals pose a fire risk.
"We often see in cases like this the electrical supplies have been tampered with to provide additional resource to the property which causes a significant hazard.
"Fortunately in this instance the fire did not spread to other buildings and there were no casualties.”