Two deputies are in critical, but stable condition following an explosion and fire at a training facility at the Pitchess Detention Center in Castaic Tuesday morning.
Firefighters responded to the 29300 block of The Old Road around 9:30 a.m. on a report of a shed fire, the Los Angeles County Fire Department said.
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The L.A. County Sheriff's Department initally reported that several deputies were hospitalized with injuries; however, during a press conference, Dr. Louie-Marc Contreras, chief of the medical staff at Henry Mayo Hospital, said two deputies were hospitalized in critical condition. The two deputies are stable.
While their names have not yet been publicly released, one of the deputies is a 21-year veteran assigned to the northern jail campus. The other is a 17-year veteran assigned to the Sylmar courthouse.
L.A. County Sheriff Robert Luna said during the press conference that the two deputies were believed to be the only ones inside the mobile shooting-range trailer when the fire broke out.
Luna added that the Pitchess Detention Center was placed on lockdown as firefighters worked on extinguishing the blaze. There was no threat to any of the inmates.
The department suspended the use of all mobile shooting-range trailers across L.A. County as the investigation into what caused the fire continues.
City News Service contributed to this report.
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