NFPA Journal - September/October 2016 - 50

This industry obviously grew out of an illegal one, and a lot of these guys started out doing this on their back porch, in the garage, or in the kitchen. tions in place were often as rudimentary as a home operation. "This industry obviously grew out of an illegal one, and a lot of these guys started out doing this on their back porch, in the garage, or in the kitchen," said Chris Witherell, an engineer and the owner of Pressure Safety Inspectors, a company that inspects marijuana extraction equipment for public safety agencies. "They were open blasting, just taking bottled butane and forcing it through an open pipe and basically standing in a pool of butane. When it went commercial, a lot of folks were still of the mindset, 'I did this for 15 years and I didn't die-I'm fine. What's the problem?'" Ryan Cook, a co-owner of The Clinic, which operates 11 marijuana facilities around Denver, including a large extraction lab, told me that equipment standardization didn't exist in MIP facilities back then. Everyone had their own method, he said, adding that "what the equipment regulators were looking at in the beginning was sort of like a plumbing project you would do with your father in the garage." For fire officials trying to get a handle on the rapidly expanding grow and extraction facilities, the first challenge was simply understanding what it was they were looking at and the processes involved. There was also a steep learning curve that had to be overcome on the industry side. Only months before, many of these new marijuana operators had been home enthusiasts, unfamiliar with permitting and codes. Complicating things further, what rules did exist were loosely defined, and few people-enforcers or business owners-had a clear idea of which regulations actually applied to the industry, or of the required safety precautions. Relevant rules and guidance related to similar processes are tucked away in various codes and standards, fire officials found, but interpreting what should apply to marijuana operations, and how, was a challenge. "We worked with our building officials very closely and asked them, 'How do we want to classify this? Where in the code is this going to fall? What safeties do we want to put in place?'" Nelson said. "We also had a lot of conversations with engineers about how to meet the best intent of the codes. It doesn't fit in any one box." In Denver, the Mayor's Office on Marijuana Policy began holding regular meetings with stakeholders, lawmakers, public safety agencies, and others. The meetings helped put everything on the table, the first step toward progress. "We didn't know what we didn't know; we were learning along with the industry," said Nicole Skoumal, operations supervisor at the Denver Fire Department. "We were learning about what they wanted to do, and trying to figure out and communicate what [safety measures] they needed to have in order to do it." "It took a pretty progressive attitude from everybody there in 2009 to discuss things like this and figure out how to improve and advance," said Cook, who was also a part of those early discussions. "Working with a lot of agencies and groups created this realization in the industry that if we did work together we could be happy with the regulations in place while also reducing liabilities and creating a consistent and better product." As those talks occurred, the Denver Fire Department created a separate marijuana inspection group, paid for in part by marijuana licensing fees and taxes. Inspection teams were out every day walking through facilities, talking to owners, gathering valuable insight, and often discovering issues that required more consideration. When inspectors noticed that the alarms in their portable gas meters were occasionally going off near extractors, for instance, "it immediately opened our eyes that the regulations we had in place [for the extraction process] were not working," Lukus said. While Denver fire officials were crafting their potindustry codes and regulations, so were their counterparts across the state. Ideas were freely exchanged. "A lot of our code GROWIN' UP As the industry matures, observers say, more attention is being paid to training and safety procedures. Photograph: Kim Cook

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of NFPA Journal - September/October 2016