APRIL 30, 2015
EAGLE-VAIL, COLORADO
Colorado’s marijuana industry has taken off with a bang —
literally.
An Eagle-Vail man said a malfunctioning valve in his legal
hash oil cooking system caused an explosion Wednesday afternoon.
About two hours after the explosion, Ryne Wilhelmi, 24,
called the Vail Daily from the local hospital to tell his side of the story.
Wilhelmi said he was outside on the back porch of his
Eagle-Vail townhome when a valve failed on his closed-loop hash oil system.
They’re designed to keep highly flammable butane gas from escaping.
“The valve popped, and I jumped back,” Wilhelmi said. “When
I did, the static electricity in my sweatshirt ignited it.”
Wilhelmi said he was running a state-approved closed-loop
system, legal in Colorado.
“It’s legal as long as you’re running a closed-loop system,”
Wilhelmi said.
It’s prohibited, Sheriff says.
The closed-loop system is prohibited in residential areas,
the Eagle County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.
“If you’re in a residential area, you’re endangering
everyone around you, and yourself,” said Jessie Mosher, public information
officer with the Sheriff’s Office.
Wilhelmi will be charged with reckless endangerment, a Class
3 misdemeanor; criminal mischief, a Class 6 felony; first degree arson, a Class
3 felony; and offenses relating to marijuana and marijuana concentrate, a Class
3 felony.
Wilhelmi was wearing shorts and a T-shirt when the explosion
occurred. He said he has burns on his arms and legs.
“This is a legitimate part failure,” Wilhelmi said. “I’m all
about safety and keeping (stuff) safe when it does go wrong.”
Wilhelmi said he moved quickly to ensure his neighbors’
safety.
“When the flames went up, I made everything as safe as I
could,” he said. “I just went into safety mode as quickly as I could.”
“It was a very minor catch, and I did everything I could to
make it safe,” he said.
When deputies with the Eagle County Sheriff’s Office arrived
on scene, they suspected Wilhelmi of making butane hash oil, which caused the
explosion. Butane hash oil is a highly concentrated form of marijuana. It is
made with butane gas and marijuana in a pressurized metal tube.
But without proper ventilation, butane fumes can linger. All
it takes is a spark of static electricity to ignite a room, local firefighters
said.
Big boom
The back of Dustin Tombari’s townhome backs up to a
30-foot-wide strip of land and trees between Wilhelmi’s townhome complex and
his.
Tombari said the explosion was so loud he thought it was in
his own home.
Wilhelmi dragged the burner across that open space and
dropped it into green grass and mud, telling Tombari he was trying to make it
“safer.”
“When he dropped it, he opened a valve and a bunch of white
stuff came out,” Tombari said.
Alante Shelby, 24, moved to the area from Michigan three
weeks ago and lives in the townhome next to Wilhelmi.
The cooker exploded at 12:37 p.m. Wednesday, Shelby said.
“I was downstairs sleeping when I heard a boom,” Shelby
said. “It sounded like a sonic boom. I looked out and saw a bunch of smoke.”
He saw a red push broom was on fire just off the porch,
right under a pine tree and in a pile of wet needles.
“It’s dangerous,” Shelby said. “He was badly burned.”
Not a makeshift cooker
Wilhelm pointed out that his was not one of the makeshift
hash oil operations that cause so many explosions, such as the one last year in
Avon’s Liftview Apartments that blew an 8-foot hole in the kitchen drywall.
“When they use butane, the gases gather and the danger of
explosions is much higher,” Wilhelmi said.
Even with a system like his, Wilhelmi said it’s not accident
proof.
“Accidents happen, even with closed-loop systems that are
well maintained,” he said.
Wilhelmi had not been charged with anything by mid afternoon
Wednesday. The Eagle County Sheriff’s Office said Wednesday that Wilhelmi will
be charged with something, but they are still investigating the case and have
not yet determined the charges.
He said he was doing nothing illegal and was “totally
compliant” with the deputies and firefighters.
As the scene was secured by Eagle County sheriff’s deputies
and firefighters from the Eagle River Fire Protection District, an exhaust fan
was blowing out from a downstairs bedroom with a Bob Marley flag hanging from
the window. The smell of marijuana wafted out of the townhome from that bedroom
door.
Second hash oil explosion in a year
Wednesday’s hash oil explosion in Eagle-Vail is the second
in a year in Eagle County.
Joshua Rosenbaum, 22, was using one of those makeshift
cookers when he blew an 8-foot hole in the kitchen drywall of his Liftview
apartment in Avon.
Rosenbaum was trying to produce hash oil, but instead
produced an explosion when butane gas ignited.
Rosenbaum was home alone and no one was injured.
It’s a felony in Eagle County
Some prosecutors are charging hash cookers with felonies,
while others say hash oil production is protected under a provision of
Colorado’s legal pot law.
In Eagle County, District Attorney Bruce Brown says it’s a
felony. He charged Rosenbaum with arson, a felony, to which Rosenbaum
eventually pleaded guilty.
Rosenbaum received a deferred four-year prison sentence,
which means that if he can stay out of trouble for four years, apologizes to
everyone in the neighborhood, speaks to schools and youth organizations, does
useful community service and keeps a full-time job, he won’t go to prison.
In addition to Wednesday’s Eagle-Vail explosion, similar
explosions have hit Leadville, Frisco and Avon, said the District Attorney’s
Office.
“As Coloradans, we should be setting an example for other
states. Leave the hash oil distilling to the professionals,” Brown said when
Rosenbaum was arrested and charged.
Hash oil blows up
Hash oil is typically made by packing the castoff leaves and
stems of pot plants into a pipe and pouring highly flammable butane through it.
The concoction is heated to make the potent oil. It’s far less expensive than
buying it in stores.
The golden-colored mixture can be up to 80 percent THC,
marijuana’s intoxicating chemical. Devotees say one or two drops can produce a
more euphoric high than an entire joint. It can also be infused into baked
goods or vaporized.
Source: http://www.vaildaily.com