Pot Farm Discovered in Bronx Basement Apartment, Near Site of Deadly Blast

Police have discovered a marijuana-growing operation in a Bronx apartment building not far from another pot lab that was the scene of a fatal explosion.

The NYPD said Tuesday that officers responded to an unoccupied basement apartment after residents reported smelling marijuana and chemicals.

Images obtained exclusively by NBC 4 New York show the alleged illegal grow operation, where nearly 100 marijuana plants were growing, along with heaters and air fileters.

Outside, an electric meter had been tampered with, its lines spliced so that the main electrical line bypassed the meter. 

Last week, authorities responding to the report of a gas leak at another Bronx home discovered a marijuana farm there before an explosion killed FDNY Chief Michael Fahy. Investigators suspect that two men arrested for growing the pot may have tampered with the gas line.

There were no arrests in Tuesday's case.

The same firefighters who responded to the blast that killed their colleague also responded to the call for the grow house Tuesday.

Neighbor Yarlyn Ortiz, who lives in the building above the basement apartment, said she was told to leave her home. With last week's explosion still vivid, she reacted quickly. 

"I got a knock at the door first, and it was like the firemen, they wanted to get in to see if there was a gas leak or something," she said. "Then they knocked again and said, 'Can you please get out of your apartment,' so we had to rush outside." 

Ortiz grabbed her 2-year-old daughter, a pair of shoes and a jacket and ran.

"I thought the whole building was going to explode or something," she said. "It's crazy, whoever did that, because they're putting the whole building in danger. Little kids and everybody else."