Two veteran Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies were critically injured Tuesday morning when fire broke out in a trailer-based mobile shooting range.
"Their condition is stable, but they remain in critical condition due to injuries primarily related to burns. Importantly, no surgical intervention has been required at this time," the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department (LASD) said in a statement.
Sheriff Robert Luna said one of the deputies was participating in qualifying during the incident, according to the Associated Press.
By the time firefighters with the Los Angeles County Fire Department arrived, the injured deputies were already transported by fellow deputies to the hospital, the San Gabriel Valley Tribune reports.
It took hours for firefighters to douse the blaze inside the trailer. The fire department said they were finally able to knock down the fire by 1:20 p.m.
Luna said the unexploded ammunition in the trailer hampered both the firefighting effort and the investigation into what caused the fire.
Luna said the Sheriff’s Department was suspending the use of any of its mobile shooting ranges across the county as investigators worked to determine what led to the fire Tuesday.
He said the two deputies injured were longtime Sheriff’s Department veterans, with one deputy serving for 21 years and the other for 17 years.
