250 marijuana plants found in Costa Mesa building

Police said they found hundreds of marijuana plants Tuesday afternoon when a fire led them to an illegal indoor pot farm across from Whittier Elementary School in Costa Mesa.

Around 4:40 p.m., firefighters arrived at a complex of commercial buildings at 1835 Whittier Ave., where an electrical box was ablaze, police said.

Firefighters doused the flames before they spread to a building. But as they investigated the cause of the fire, they discovered that the electrical panel had been altered so a unit inside the building could steal power, authorities said.

Fire crews saw rows of marijuana plants inside that unit, police said.

The Fire Department called Costa Mesa police detectives, who waited at the scene until they had a warrant to search the building, police Lt. Bryan Glass said.

“Various rooms were found to contain marijuana plants in various stages of development, equipment and supplies to maintain the grow operation, as well as finished and partially finished marijuana prepared for distribution and sales,” Costa Mesa police said in a news release.

Detectives seized more than 250 plants, several bags of marijuana and about 40 pounds of the drug ready to be sold for an estimated value of more than $20,000, Lt. Paul Dondero said.

Police declined to release more details because they are still investigating the operation.

No arrests have been made, Glass said.