Monday’s house fire in Nederland was probably started by a hash oil explosion

Once crews extinguished a fire in a home south of Nederland’s Barker Reservoir yesterday evening, they began to find clues that the fire may have been caused by a hash oil explosion, the Daily Camera reports.

Nederland Fire Volunteer Chief Eric Abramson told a reporter, “I can’t really comment now but it’s a little suspicious that there’s (propane) tanks blowing off (in the house). We probably suspect some sort of illegal behavior.”

Abramson didn’t go so far as to blame an illegal hash oil operation, but he did tell the paper that it was marijuana-related. He also pointed out that the average marijuana grow doesn’t create that kind of fire hazard.

The incident comes only a week after a man’s body was found outside an illegal grow house on the same road. Nederland police and the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office are investigating it as a “suspicious death,” the Camera reported. 

Two people who escaped the fire, barely, have been hospitalized. As Abramson told the Camera: “You can make your own conclusion (about their condition) when they get flown by helicopter to the burn unit.”