[medpot]

The Niagara Falls Review

Letters to the Editor


Monday, February 8, 2010


Niagara tenant fined $45,000 and sent to jail for 45 days



The former tenant of a Niagara Falls home will spend the next 45 days in jail after being convicted of a slew of fire code offences stemming from the discovery of a marijuana grow-op.

The man was also ordered to pay a $45,000 fine after appearing in provincial offences court in Niagara Falls on Feb. 3.

The Niagara Falls Fire Department was called to a home on Locus Avenue on Jan. 23, 2009 after Niagara Regional Police discovered a marijuana growing operation.

Fire prevention officer Brian Dickson testified he observed a number of violations of the Ontario Fire Code that would have posed an imminent threat to firefighters in the event of a fire.

Prosecutor Scott Henderson told Justice of the Peace Bruce Phillips there were false rooms and entanglement hazards from the ventilation tubing and extension cords.

"We are pleased the courts continue to send the message that those individuals who choose to violate the Ontario Fire Code, and place both the public and firefighters at risk, do so at their own peril," assistant fire chief Jim Jessop said after the trial.

"We will continue our vigilance of enforcing our zero tolerance policy for violations of the code that have an immediate impact on the safety of the occupants of buildings and the firefighters that will have to respond to these buildings in the event of an emergency."

The fire service also issued an Unsafe Building Order and Order Prohibiting Occupancy against the owner of the house. The owner has since complied with the remediation orders.



Article ID# 2440312

[cheryl9608]

The man was also ordered to pay a $45,000 fine after appearing in provincial offences court in Niagara Falls on Feb. 3.



I would be appealing that horse shit.