Drug Lab Explosion Reportedly Leaves One Man with Severe Burns in Pasadena

Pasadena police and county authorities are continuing to investigate an explosion Monday at a home in the 1900 block of E. Washington Blvd. in Pasadena, where a man suffered was hospitalized after suffering severe burns to his arms.

Investigators from the Pasadena Police Department and the Los Angeles County Fire Department Hazardous Materials Division confirmed the back shed of the home where the explosion occurred was being used as an illegal drug lab.

Police officers found marijuana bundles in the shed along with pots and pans and hundreds of butane canisters that authorities say were evidence the area was a drug lab.

L.A.Impact, or the Los Angeles Interagency Metropolitan Police Apprehension Crime Task Force, was on the scene with several investigators and were examining the equipment and raw materials believed to be used for extracting “honey oil,” another name for hash oil which has high concentrations of tetrahydrocannabinol or THC, the principal psychoactive constituent of cannabis.

Scott Schulze, a detective with L.A. Impact, said about a third of the drug labs they have discovered processing THC have had damaging explosions.

The Pasadena drug lab was described as medium-sized operation that could be selling the drugs locally. Authorities also found two firearms, including an assault rifle, at the scene.

“It’s a lucrative business. They’re selling the finished product for large amounts of money,” Schulze told ABC.

Firefighters who rushed to the scene Sunday night found a small blaze at the back of the property and immediately extinguished the fire. They then saw the marijuana bundles, butane canisters and other equipment in the drug lab, triggering a response by L.A. Impact.