It’s been a bad week for top-shelf herb in California.
First the “Terp Town” fire of Greenfield, CA, burned five greenhouses at the property of award-winning grower and extract manufacturer Loudpack in Monterey County. Now, award-winning growers Alien Labs are facing their own setbacks in the eastern part of the state.
The raging Carr Fire, which began Monday, exploded Thursday to claim 44,000 acres, 65 structures, and kill two firefighters, according to news reports. Among those structures are several homes affiliated with the leading cannabis growers in the state.
“We have family members personally affected by this fire and a couple of our spots are just about to burn down. (One of our best) countless families have lost their homes,” Alien Labs stated on Instagram Friday morning. The company has set up a GoFundMe page with a goal of $25,000. “Our home is on fire! We might be transplants to Sacramento but Redding is our home and Redding is being absolutely devastated right now by the Carr Fire.”
The Carr Fire reportedly started by a driver towing a vehicle with a dangling chain. Fanned by high, hot, westerly winds, the fire exploded in dry timber and jumped the Sacramento River Thursday, triggering evacuations west of Redding, a city of 90,000 people two hours north of the state capitol of Sacramento. Human-driven climate change is thought to be intensifying droughts and fire seasons in the western US.
Firefighters battle extreme conditions as Carr Fire tears through California
Video shows extreme conditions crews face as Carr Fire in Northern California claims life of bulldozer operator and injures three firefighters. https://abcn.ws/2LEPK00
Posted by ABC News on Friday, July 27, 2018
Timelapse video shows the #CarrFire approaching #Redding, California. https://t.co/cZHrZOS53i
[Video: Cody Markhart] pic.twitter.com/x2gg1RL50Y— NBC Bay Area (@nbcbayarea) July 27, 2018
California’s fire season is off to a blistering start, mirroring November 2017 blazes which torched key cannabis-growing regions north of San Francisco.
Alien Labs took first place in the 2018 Central Valley Cannabis Cup with Melonade. They also took first place in extracts in the 2018 SoCal Cannabis Cup with Lemon Fuel by Critical Concentrates and Alien Labs.
