Fire crews called to house blaze in Telford discover cannabis farm with hundreds of plants

The fire service said crews were called to a fire on Stanwyck in Sutton Hill at around 7.25pm on Thursday.

The Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service scrambled two fire engines from Telford Central and Tweedale, along with operations and fire investigation officers.

Crews using breathing kit used a covering jet and a hose reel water jet to put the fire out but then handed over the scene to National Grid and West Mercia Police after the cannabis was discovered.

A spokesperson for National Grid said: "National Grid was asked by the emergency services to go to a home in Stanwyck following a fire.

“Our engineers disconnected the electricity supply to the property to ensure the scene was safe for further investigations by the fire service and police.”

West Mercia Police said 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 of the Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service 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.”