Firefighters find dozens of cannabis farms after electrical faults trigger fires

Jul 4 2012 by Liam Murphy, Liverpool Echo

FIREFIGHTERS discovered dozens of cannabis farms after electrical faults triggered fires in properties across Merseyside.

In one of the latest incidents firefighters discovered 80 cannabis plants in Wirral after a caller said they could smell smoke near a three-storey property.

That brought the total number of cannabis farms found by firefighters across Merseyside to 24 since January 1, 2011.

Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service had been called out at 8pm on June 16, to the building near New Ferry Road in New Ferry.

Other cannabis factories have been found at addresses in St Helens, Litherland, Kensington, Wavertree, Wallasey, Old Swan and Speke.

In January firefighters were called to a house in Warrenhouse Road, Waterloo, after a someone delivering leaflets spotted smoke coming from the letterbox.

And in December a man had to be rescued after a fire started due to a fault caused by the electric meter being bypassed for cannabis cultivation in a flat in Sefton Park.

According to the fire service fuse panels, electricity meters and other safety features are bypassed so criminals can tap into power supplies for lighting to help grow the plants but the shoddy work risks people's lives and property.