Five Burned in Honey Oil Lab Explosion

Five men suffered serious burns after a suspected honey oil lab blew up in a detached garage at a home in the 1600 block of Green Street in central Redding.

The Redding Fire Department and police responded to the scene shortly after the explosion rocked the residential neighborhood south of Cypress and east of Churn Creek at 12:25 a.m. Monday.

A section of the garage roof blew off and landed across the street, and the garage collapsed. No fire broke out. Large piles of debris covered the home’s driveway later Monday. The words “NO!!! PICTURES” were scrawled on a piece of wood but did little to keep drivers from passing by slowly to stare at the mess.

Redding Fire Department Battalion Chief Steve Reilly said fire crews found five people in the front of the home when they arrived. Firefighters immediately started providing medical aid. Two of the victims were taken to Mercy Medical Center, two others went to Shasta Regional Medical Center. The fifth was taken to St. Elizabeth Hospital in Red Bluff.

The head of the Shasta Interagency Narcotic Task Force, Redding Police Sgt. Les James, said that all five were unable to speak to investigators Monday and that at least one of them was transferred to the UC Davis burn center.

Authorities said that the blast appeared to be caused by a honey oil lab and that they found numerous cylinders of butane, glass tubes and a large plastic tub full of marijuana.

Reilly said such explosions caused by people trying to make concentrated cannabis appear to be on the rise.

“Unfortunately it’s becoming all too common,” he said. “This is the third one I’ve been to in six months.”

In the past year, the Fire Department has responded to at least 15 honey oil lab-related incidents, said Michael Bachmeyer, Redding fire division chief.

It is unclear what the relationship was among the five men in the blast in the 1600 block of Green Street. Their identities have yet to be confirmed. But they were on the property with the knowledge or consent of its owner, James said.

Kerry Madson, the homeowner, was unavailable to talk. Her son worked outside Monday, combing through the debris. He declined to give his name and described those who were on his mother’s property as “unfortunate acquaintances we wish she had not trusted.”

A neighbor who lives across the home wanted to point out the garage was used for welding and to build go-karts and there had been a gallon of fuel inside.

James said it was possible two things could have been happening inside the garage at the same time.

“Anything is possible. Is it possible that they were not manufacturing butane honey oil? Absolutely not,” he said. “The physical evidence states otherwise. We found finished product. You don’t get that from a go-kart.”

Sam Duginsky watched as emergency crews looked over the wreckage. Duginsky lives on Oxford Street, a block over from Green Street. He said the explosion awoke him from a deep sleep.

“I thought it was the beginning of an earthquake,” he said. After he awoke, he then thought that “maybe there was a plane in my driveway.”

He joined other neighbors to watch as fire and police officials investigated the explosion site.

Brent Decent lives with his mother on Green Street. He described the victims as middle aged who have been in the “neighborhood for a while.”

“I went outside, and there were people crawling out. A guy came out screaming. He threw his clothes off and the skin came with it,” he said.

Amid that chaos, he also saw a second victim while still on fire get in a car to move it away from the garage. A third victim stood in front of the fire trying to put it out with a garden hose.

“There was a lot of stuff that was going on in there,” he said.