Camping fuel, marijuana mix explodes in Victoria suite

A volatile mix of marijuana and camping fuel exploded in a View Street apartment suite on Friday, the second time in a week that hash oil has caused an explosion on Vancouver Island.

Victoria firefighters arrived at the fifth-floor suite at 868 View St., near Quadra Street, about 5:30 p.m. Friday after a resident on the 11th floor called 911 to report an explosion. Firefighters were met by a man with burns to his face and body. There was no fire in the suite, but an explosion had occurred in the kitchen.

The man initially denied that he was cooking drugs, but drug paraphernalia was found at the scene, according to Victoria police.

“He was initially not forthcoming,” said watch commander Sgt. Matt Waterman.

Police and fire crews determined the man was trying to produce hash oil by mixing mari- juana and camping fuel in a coffee pot over the stove.

Hash oil can be smoked, ingested or inhaled. Butane is sometimes used to extract hash oil from marijuana, but the fumes can be highly volatile and require ventilation.

“The stove caused the vapour to flash, which created an explosion,” said Victoria Fire acting battalion chief Wayne Moody.

The victim was taken to hospital with second-degree burns to his face.

No one else was in the suite when police officers and firefighters arrived.

No charges will be laid. There was about $5,000 damage to contents in the apartment suite, Moody said.

“He was obviously very lucky there was nothing else super flammable in the area that could have ignited … or we could have been dealing with a situation like in Courtenay,” Moody said.

Three men producing hash oil were seriously injured in an explo- sion and resulting fire that gutted a Courtenay home in the 2000 block of First Street on May 22.

The men, ages 25, 28 and 29, ran out of the house and drove themselves to St. Joseph’s General Hospital in Comox. The men had life-threatening injuries and were airlifted to hospitals in Victoria and Vancouver.

Comox Valley RCMP said the men were neither the tenants nor homeowners of the house. No charges have been laid.