On Tuesday night, a pot farm in the loft of a home in a cul-de-sac in Salford, in the suburbs of Manchester, England caught fire. As the fire burned through the house, onlookers found themselves overwhelmed by the smell of cannabis.
"I sat in my house with my granddaughter when I saw the flames," neighbor Gaynor Turner told the Manchester Evening News.
"Once the flames were really high and the smoke was coming from the roof, you could really smell it. It was disgusting."
Firefighters managed to save the house, but the roof was left severely damaged. No one was inside at the time of the incident, though authorities did rescue a dog from the burning building.
Upon discovering the pot farm, police arrested a 43-year-old man, though his specific relationship to the incident is unknown.
"One of my neighbors came into my house with her five-year-old, who was sick everywhere because of the fumes," Turner said.
"I’ve lived here for 17 years. I can’t believe there was a cannabis farm there."
Another neighbor, speaking on condition of anonymity, also spoke of feeling ill.
"It was very strong, you could feel it on your lungs," the resident said.
"Someone was joking that we should have been grateful because it was a 'free high.'"
