Check out These Guns: Turns Out Growhouses Aren't All Staffed By Hippie Potheads

And you thought pot was all about peace and love....

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A phalanx of cops, firefighters, District Attorneys and Supervisor Carmen Chu put on their tough-on-crime press conference faces this morning to strike terror into the hearts of the folks at an illegal grow house near you (particularly if you live in the Sunset District). Police Chief George Gascon, dressed in a dapper suit and lavender shirt, refused to talk about whether legalizing pot would squash the growhouse industry, but stayed on message for the gathered media: Illegal grow houses create a public safety hazard for one and all!

To prove his point, a sample of illegal assault weapons ostensibly confiscated during the raids was laid out on a table. (These aren't all harmless pro-pot hippies staffing said grow operations, as it turns out.) Fire Chief Joanne Hayes-White warned that growhouses are a blaze waiting to happen that can quickly spread to entire city blocks. If the growhouse next door doesn't piss you off, surely it will when your house burns down with it. 

Captain Paul Chignell of the Taraval Police Station couldn't explain why, all of a sudden, there's been an "epidemic" of growhouses discovered in the Sunset, other than to say more citizens are ratting out the suspicious properties. He said that pot growers migrate to the district for its bounty of rental houses and the ocean winds that waft away the tell-tale pot odor. 

Here's the hard facts. Since March of this year, Taraval station officers have:

• Raided 36 houses. Four turned out to be legitimate grow businesses for medical dispensaries.  

• Arrested 44 people.

• Confiscated 8,229 Marijuana plants. ("I'm sorry we didn't bring any Marijuana for you to smell," quipped Captain Dennis O'Leary.)

• Seized 20 weapons.

• Collected $84,810.46 in cash.

District Attorney Russ Giuntini said that the DA has prosecuted 44 of 45 people arrested at the alleged illegal grow houses all across the city since August 2008. The charges include cultivation of Marijuana, possession of Marijuana, using a building for the manufacture and distribution of a controlled substance, and stealing electricity.

The houses often bypass the PG&E meter in order to not tip off the electrical company to the suspicious levels of power sucked up by the arsenal of lamps, filters, and exhaust fans inside. Bypassing the meter creates a high risk of an electrical fire, which can quickly spread in the close-quarter houses of the Sunset, said Fire Marshall Barbara Schultneis. Other fires have been caused by combustibles contacting the grow lights. Schultneis said the fire department has responded to two grow house fires a year for the last seven years, and noted that a fire fighter was severely injured in August while fighting an illegal grow house fire in Bayview.

Hydroponic lamps and the TV news reporters who are fascinated by them: KGO's Vic Lee

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Schultneis said that grow houses often nail plywood over windows to block light and control the growing conditions. That just allows the fire to grow before anyone notices it, delays firefighter access, and blocks ventilation of the fire.

Surprisingly, not one speaker made reference to the seminal Talking Heads song Burning Down the House. There's a public safety commission meeting regarding growhouses on Monday -- maybe then.