Investigators say cigarette caused Greenfield marijuana fire
UPDATE: 8/7/2018 11:02 a.m. Fire investigators determined a massive fire at a marijuana manufacturing facility in Greenfield was caused by an employee’s discarded cigarette.
Flames broke out at LoudPack Farms on July 23, and caused $15 million worth of damage. Five of the eight greenhouses were destroyed. Hundreds of employees took off running from the property on Cherry Avenue. No injuries were reported.
The Greenfield Fire Chief told KION the fire was deemed an accident and he reminds the public to be careful when discarding their cigarettes on dry and windy days.
He adds the call coming in around 4:20 was merely a coincidence.
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Just after 4 p.m. Monday, a fire engulfed the greenhouses of LoudPack Farms, a cannabis grow and manufacturing facility in Greenfield. The Greenfield Fire Department tells KION there were no injuries, and the city says five of the business’ eight greenhouses were destroyed.
“(It is) getting to the point where we’re getting more and more comfortable ruling out arson,” Greenfield Interim Fire Chief Jeff Terpstra, said.
The cause of Monday’s fire remains smokey. The fire department says this was a business doing all the right things with their operation.
“We don’t believe it was design oriented or even the operations (that caused the fire). This is honestly a very safe operation,” Terpstra said.
The focus is also on what might have accidentally sparked the blaze, whether electrical or structural. The fire caused millions of dollars in damages, although an exact figure is not yet known.
“Products that were touted for being fire resistant, that’s important for us to know. This could be a case study for that,” Terpstra said.
There is also the human element. LoudPack Farms is Greenfield’s largest employer with roughly 300 workers.
“Every conversation I’ve had with the owners, is it’s their intent and their goal to keep everybody employed,” Mic Steinmann, the Greenfield Community Services Director, said.
And on Tuesday, fewer than 24 hours after the fire, everyone showed up for work.
“The main manufacturing processing building is open as are, I believe, the three greenhouses behind it,” Steinmann said.
Steinmann says there is no California building code requiring sprinklers in Greenhouses, and LoudPack did not have sprinklers. Greenfield Fire says fire walls and sprinklers will be considered for greenhouses moving forward, along with creating larger spacing in greenhouses, to slow the spreading of a potential future fire.
