PORT RICHMOND-August 22, 2004 — Police say the firefighters who perished in the basement of 3630 Belgrade Avenue in Port Richmond died in a tangled web of wires, high intensity lamps and fans that were rigged in a basement closet to grow marijuana.

*- Despite the tragedy of this event it is important to remember that like the dangerous moonshine stills of the days of alocohol prohibition, the type of dangerous grow room described above, is largely due to the illegality of marijuana.