Fire Dept, police called in UC-Berkeley frat house blaze



 Updated: Wed, Aug 29 12:00 PM EDT


   By Eric Ostrem
   Daily Californian
   U. California-Berkeley

   (U-WIRE) BERKELEY, Calif. -- A fire in the closet of a University of
California-Berkeley fraternity was caused by an electrical malfunction in a
   hydroponic plant-growing system early Tuesday morning, fire officials said.

   There were no reported injuries, but both fire and police units were
involved in the situation.

   A sprinkler system had responded immediately to the smoke from the fire,
preventing it from spreading, said Berkeley Assistant Fire Chief Debra
   Pryor.

   The police dispatch report states that marijuana plants were found, said
Berkeley police Lt. Stephanie Harris.

   "Apparently (the fire department) found some marijuana plants, and now an
investigation is under way," she said.

   Pryor would neither confirm nor deny that marijuana plants were the
motivation for the fire department's call to the police, but she said police
are
   only called to a fire in a "drug-related incident."

   "I can't confirm what type of plants they were growing," Pryor said.

   She added that the dispatch's reference to marijuana does not confirm the
presence of marijuana at the scene.

   Fire units responded at 2:20 a.m. to the fire in the Zeta Psi fraternity,
with what Pryor said was a standard response.

   They found that the sprinkler system had managed to control the fire but
decided to call the police in to conduct an investigation. She would not
   elaborate on why, saying that it is now a police matter.

   Results and details of the investigation were not available Tuesday because
the police report was not yet complete, Harris said. Police have not
   made any arrests.

   Zeta Psi fraternity member Andrew Armstrong denied knowledge of any illegal
plants.

   "I don't know anything about that," he said, adding that he thought the
fire was started by an overloaded circuit breaker.

   According to Pryor, however, who was referring to the fire department's
report on the incident, the cause of the fire was related to an electrical
   lighting system in a closet. The report refers to a hydroponic
plant-growing system.

   Armstrong said he had no knowledge of such a system, but he said police
were present. Police did not confiscate any materials, Armstrong said.

   "It really wasn't a significant event for us," Pryor said. "It was a small
fire. Everything worked as it should have worked -- we attribute that to the
   sprinkler system."

   In the process of containing the fire, however, the sprinkler system caused
excessive water damage, Pryor said. The combination of the water and
   fire damage was estimated by fire officials to be $10,000.

   (C) 2001 Daily Californian via U-WIRE

Doug Gordner,CFSI-Fire Protection Specialist
Environmental Health & Safety
Ithaca College
Ithaca, New York 14850
(607)-274-1846
(607)-274-1868 (fax)
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