A Dunfermline man who blew up his flat while trying to make cannabis oil has been spared jail.
Anthony Alari caused a major explosion that rocked the town’s Dewar Street last summer.
The 36-year-old was experimenting with honey butane oil – also known as “hash oil” – when he triggered the blast, blowing a hole in his wall and shattering windows.
The rest of his street had to be evacuated, while Alari was rushed to a burns unit at St John’s Hospital in Livingston.
He appeared at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court and admitted behaving in a culpable and reckless manner and producing a controlled drug.
Sheriff James Williamson ordered Alari to complete 300 hours as a direct alternative to imprisonment.
This is the maximum number of hours which can be imposed as part of a community payback order.
Cold shower
Procurator fiscal depute Claire Bremner told the court Alari had been attempting to mix cannabis with butane in a glass jar to produce a yellow capsule, like a hard-boiled sweet, which can be burned and inhaled.
According to US publication Healthline, honey butane oil – a form of hash oil – is a concentrated extract more potent than other cannabis plant products.
Firefighters were scrambled to the street at around 1.50pm on July 3 after receiving multiple 999 calls about an explosion in a first-floor flat.
The fiscal depute said the extent of the blast caused both the front and rear windows of the property to shatter immediately.
Homes were evacuated as firefighters battled to extinguish the fire, which spread to adjoining flats.
Ms Bremner said two witnesses saw Alari running from the property in a distressed state with burns to his hands.
One took him inside and doused him with cold water from a shower.
Burns unit
The fiscal depute told the court: “On attendance, a watch commander (fire service) spoke to the accused who said the fire started because he had been using butane gas with cannabis.
“Due to his injuries, the accused was taken to the burns unit at St John’s Hospital.
“Within the locus, the watch commander said there were 10 small, used butane cannisters in various rooms.”
The court heard police talked to Alari’s mother, who said he had been growing cannabis in his room and told her earlier that day he was going to extract from the dry cannabis leaves with butane gas.
Ms Bremner said Alari’s mother had been reading in the living room at the time and believed the boiler had exploded.
The fiscal depute said: “She said after the explosion the accused said: ‘I’m sorry, it’s cannabis’.”
It took several hours to extinguish the blaze.
Was like ‘a movie’
The explosion caused a hole to be blown through the wall to an adjoining property and a big crack to an external wall.
The fire service was unsure if the building was structurally sound and a number of people had to leave their homes, with some going to live in hotels.
In the following weeks, structural engineers checked the flat and surrounding properties and said they were secure.
Retired engineer Richard Jamieson, whose back garden looks on to the rear of the Dewar Street houses, said: “There were flames leaping out of the kitchen window.”
Apprentice joiner Ethan Morgan, 19, whose family live close by, said: “I had just parked the car and heard a big bang.
“I went around the back to our kitchen, looked up and saw flames coming out of the flat’s window. It’s like stuff you see in a movie.”
