Rohnert Park house fire leads to discovery of hash oil operation, arrest

A Rohnert Park man was arrested Wednesday night after his house caught fire, and investigators suspected the blaze was caused by a hash oil operation.

Jody J. Perry, 33, was arrested on complaints of manufacturing of a controlled substance and violation of probation, police said.

Fire crews responded at 4:10 p.m. to calls reporting smoke coming from the roof of a house located at the 400 block of Alta Avenue.

Crews from both the Rohnert Park Police and Fire Services, the Rincon Valley Fire Department and Rancho Adobe arrived to battle the fire, which also caused a power line to fall onto the street. PG&E responded as well.

Firefighters found several butane cannisters in the house along with other unspecified items indicating hash oil manufacturing, police said. Perry suffered a minor injury to his face but declined medical treatment.

Police have not determined the cause of the fire, which resulted in an estimated $100,000 in damages.

Hash oil has been suspected as a cause in other recent fires, including a Santa Rosa home that went up in flames last month amid a series of explosions and a Ukiah shed fire in November that hospitalized two men with burns.

A common way to manufacture hash oil is to pump butane fuel into a tube of marijuana trimmings, resulting in a waxy extract that contains THC, the psychoactive ingredient in cannabis.

You can reach Staff Writer Bill Swindell at 521-5223 or bill.swindell@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @BillSwindell.