Hashish production led to blast, police say

One man was arrested Monday after an explosion and house fire in Yuba City, police said.

Christian H. Hernandez, 20, most recently of Colusa, was booked into Sutter County Jail on suspicion of manufacturing a controlled substance, a felony, as well as being held on various misdemeanor warrants from Butte County, while NET-5 investigated the home where the fire happened as a possible drug-making lab. Bail was set at $217,000.

At 10:02 a.m., the Fire Department received a report of an explosion and fire at a house in the 300 block of Ainsley Avenue, about a quarter-mile east of Shasta Street.

When three Fire Department engines arrived, smoke was coming out of the windows of the one-story house, said Battalion Chief John Limas.

"We went into standard attack mode for a house fire, but the smoke dissipated," he said.

Tom Vieira, 47, said he and his family heard an explosion from their home across the street and went outside to see a man they knew who lived in the house exiting, then going back inside.

"We tried to stop him from going back in," Vieira said, adding he didn't know the man or the other occupants of the home but had a friendly relationship with him.

"They always wave," he said.

After determining the fire was out, fire officials and police officers discovered what they thought could be explosive devices inside, and evacuated homes on both sides of Ainsley, as well as on the north side of Del Norte Avenue, which backs up to the site of the incident.

Police Lt. Tom Tappe said Hernandez suffered slight cuts and bruises in the fire. No other injuries were reported. Tappe said Hernandez appeared to be the only one home at the time.

The fire was confined to the house's southeast corner, in the kitchen, he said.

"The explosive devices, any danger there, that's been ruled out," he said.

Police spokeswoman Shawna Pavey said investigators believe Hernandez was refining hashish using butane, a highly flammable gas, when an explosion happened.

The evacuation and street closure on Ainsley between Plumas and Market streets lasted about an hour, during which Khristine Grounner, 27, sat on the sidewalk while her cat Mimi wailed plaintively from a cat carrier.

"I'm as sick as a dog, and I just want to get back in bed," said Grounner, who lives two houses down from the one where the fire happened. She said the fire engines arriving woke her up, and when she went outside, she noticed the smell of burning plastic.

"I didn't hear any explosion," she said. "But we saw everybody coming back from where the house was, and we got scared. I was afraid it was something like gas."

Grounner, who moved into the neighborhood in October, said she'd noticed a lot of traffic at the house, with a lot of cars parked there at any given time.

After the evacuation was lifted, police and officials from NET-5 remained at the scene investigating.

CONTACT Ben van der Meer at bvandermeer@appealdemocrat.com or 749-4786. Find him on Facebook at /ADbvandermeer or on Twitter at @ADbvandermeer.