Forensics teams at the scene today.
NSW police admit the proliferation of suburban drug labs is beginning to resemble the TV series Breaking Bad after another Sydney man was seriously injured in a home explosion.
The comment by NSW Drug Squad commander Detective Superintendent Nick Bingham comes after explosions in two suspected Sydney drug labs within 24 hours.
Det Supt Bingham says NSW police are finding an average of two drug labs a week - 83 so far this year.
About three-quarters of them are in suburban areas.
"It certainly does look like an episode out of Breaking Bad with the explosions we've had at Barden Ridge, and we had another one overnight," he told ABC radio.
"We're going in this morning to determine whether (the most recent one) was a lab or not but it appears that it may well have been."
Campsie police say they are investigating a possible clandestine drug lab as the source of the explosion in Archer Crescent, Bankstown yesterday which left a 43-year-old male occupant in hospital in a "very serious" condition.
The explosion - which occurred around 2pm yesterday - caused significant damage to the house and front patio, ripping off a large section of the tiled roof. READ FULL STORY HERE
The scene of yesterday’s second suspicious house fire. Source: No Source
Det Supt Bingham says the operations range from a "high school lab to the full scientific apparatus".
Most of them are of a commercial scale, including the Bankstown set-up where police have allegedly found sophisticated equipment. "We've certainly arrested chemistry students," Det Supt Bingham said.
"Anywhere from someone with no background in chemistry but they've learnt it off the internet (to) some highly-skilled lay chemists who learn their trade through the criminal element." He said many of the solvents and chemicals required to make amphetamines were toxic and highly flammable, especially during the evaporation process.
"We've had quite a few explosions where people have died or been seriously injured," he said.
At the suspected backyard drug lab explosion in Barden Ridge, Rob Cutelli and a relative leapt into a swimming pool to numb the agonising pain.
With their bodies boiling from the inside, Rob's older brother, well-known drag-racer Joe Cutelli, drove them to hospital as the pair desperately clung to life.
Forensics teams investigate the scene. Picture: Attila Szilvasi. Source: News Limited
Horror scene...Fire Brigades officers at the house. Source: News Limited
Police prepare to canvass the area. Source: News Limited
A children's swing was beside the entrance of the gutted garage, extensively searched by the Drug Squad's chemical operations unit, Hazmat firefighters and protective-suited forensic experts.
Remnants of the suspected meth lab, such as ash-stained beakers and other paraphernalia were recovered among the debris and catalogued.
Drug squad acting commander Supt Jason Smith said, as inconceivable as it seems, neighbours with children were living on the doorstep of clandestine drug labs.
He said 83 drug dens, where narcotics including ecstasy and amphetamines were manufactured, had been raided so far this year in a all-out police blitz compared to 106 for the whole of last year.
There had also been 163 cannabis houses shut down this year compared to 164.
"All labs contain a range of toxic chemicals, they emit hazardous fumes and create a large amount of hazardous waste. It costs tens of thousands of dollars to remediate the site," Supt Smith said.
A Fire Brigades officer prepares to enter the house. Source: News Limited
Police crime scene officers outside the house. Source: News Limited
He said the drug cooks didn't care about the end user of the drugs, nor about their neighbours: "They are motivated by greed and they will use whatever chemicals they can get their hands on to produce drugs.''
The Barden Ridge explosion, which has shocked the quiet Sutherland Shire suburb, could have been a scene straight out of the US TV drama, Breaking Bad.
Local police commander, Superintendent Julian Griffiths, said the injured duo had left a trail of blood through the house after jumping in the pool and having a cold shower.
Police said it was too soon to say what drugs were involved or if they had anything to do with nitromethane, a fuel used in drag-racing, which is also a precursor in the manufacture of speed.
Police outside the home in Barden Ridge. Source: News Limited
Hazmat crews remained on standby during the morning. Source: News Limited
Another officer enters the home. Source: News Limited
Separated Rob Cutelli, 40, and his brother Joe, 41, are known on the drag-racing circuit with Joe known as "Smokin' Joe Blo" - owner of hotted-up Toranas and a Corvette Doorslammer.
Neighbours were reluctant to be identified. But one said Joe was a mechanic and had been working on building a car in or near the garage.
"He's a racing car driver, he'd be quicker than an ambulance," she said.
Neighbours told of a strange "acidity" smell created by the blaze.
"There was heaps of smoke. There was like a weird, chemical smell. It started wafting out after," another neighbour said.
There were no vehicles in the garage, only a few mag wheels. One man said it was just a typically quiet Sutherland neighbourhood.
"Barden Ridge isn't a place you would think you have too much riffraff, it's a nice area." he said.
"Drugs is everywhere isn't it? If that's what it is."
Another described Joe Cutelli as a nice family man.
"I couldn't believe he'd be involved with something like that, he's a family man,'' she said.
"He's lovely, would do anything for anybody. Helps his neighbours out, always helping people.
"I was talking to him for an hour and a half out the front yesterday. He was very upset about a break up. That's all I can say."
Joe Cutelli is due to appear at Liverpool Local Court later this month charged with assault and breaching an AVO. He has pleaded not guilty.
The family is understood to be related to the well-known retailer and greengrocer Ross Cutelli. The family could not be contacted for comment yesterday.
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