Police: Kirkwood house explosion tied to manufacture of marijuana concentrate ‘honey oil”https://www.stltoday.com/” Law and order

A DEA agent said he didn’t know of a local case of a honey oil explosion but said the problem was “like wildfire out West.”

The California-based Fire and Burn Foundation said a honey lab is more dangerous than a meth lab. Only 300 milliliters of ignited butane vapors can reach 3,500 degrees, the agency said in an informational flyer about honey oil.

“About 10 ounces has enough explosive force to blow up a room,” the foundation said. “Fumes from the processing can cause a blast capable of destroying a three-bedroom home.”

According to the DEA’s National Drug Threat Assessment report, 180 clandestine THC extraction labs were found in 2019, most of them in California. A quarter of those were discovered because of a fire or explosion. 

Property records list a married couple as owning the home, but neighbors said the couple lives elsewhere and their son stays at the home. He has been there a few years and lives with his dog, one neighbor said, and hasn’t caused any problems. Another neighbor told a reporter Thursday, “He’s great; I don’t want to talk about it.”

The homeowner, reached at his office Thursday, said, “I really don’t have much to say about it.”

A man on Instagram who refers to himself as a “licensed cannabis cultivator” — and has the same last name as the home’s owner — had posted a photo of a dog in front of the same house on Greenleaf, dated prior to the explosion. That photo was visible several days ago but now appears to have been taken down.