Firefighter injured in suspicious pot house fire

25 firefighters were called to fight the blaze, the home was site of a prior shoot-out

August 21, 2012 05:12 AM

By Harry Harris
Oakland Tribune

OAKLAND, Calif. — A house in the East Oakland foothills that was the site of a shootout and discovery of an illegal marijuana grow last month was destroyed by a suspicious fire Monday morning that injured one firefighter, officials said.

The house, at 7815 Sunkist Drive, was vacant and appeared to have been so for some time, officials said.

Flames 20 to 30 feet high were jumping from the hillside home and could be seen for miles, Battalion Fire Chief Erik Logan said.

The house, which is just below Interstate 580 at the intersection with Michigan Drive, was fully engulfed when the first firefighters arrived on scene at 1:40 a.m. Monday.

It took 25 firefighters 40 minutes to control the fire that completely destroyed the house, Logan said.

A firefighter suffered a dislocated shoulder and was later treated and released at a hospital.

Logan said no one claiming to be an owner or resident showed up at the scene while firefighters were there.

Logan estimated the loss at hundreds of thousands of dollars. He said the point of origin and cause of the fire had not been determined yet.

The house was the scene of a shootout between a robber and an occupant the night of July 12. No one was injured and the robber escaped.

In a subsequent search of the house police found a sophisticated indoor marijuana grow and seized 249 potted marijuana plants and trash bags filled with about 20 pounds of harvested weed. Police estimated the street value of the marijuana at the time to be at least $200,000.

The man who shot at the robber, identified by police as Adrian McCullough, 33, and two other residents of the house, identified as Sean Nance 33, and Eugenia Lunnie, 36, are charged with possession of marijuana for sale and cultivation of marijuana. They have pleaded not guilty to the charges and are scheduled for a pretrial hearing on Sept. 5. Nance is free on $30,000 bail and Lunnie and McCullough are free on their own recognizance, according to court records.

Arson/Investigation Fireground Operations