LA County Deputies Burned in Mobile Range Fire

[HCM]

How many agencies use mobile trailer ranges ?

They’ve been around since at least the 1990s.


https://www.police1.com/officer-safe...MQKYNDbhA7B1Ro



L.A. County deputies suffered third-degree burns in mobile shooting range fire Officials said the two deputies were critically injured by fire inside the trailer

CASTAIC, Calif. — A trailer fire at a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department shooting range at their sprawling jail facility in Castaic left two veteran deputies critically injured and threatened to set off unexploded ammunition nearby, officials said Tuesday, Oct. 10.

Sheriff Robert Luna said the two deputies were inside the 53-foot trailer described as a "mobile shooting range" located at the Pitchess Detention Center in the 29300 block of The Old Road when the fire started at around 9:30 a.m.

By the time firefighters with the Los Angeles County Fire Department arrived, the injured deputies were already transported by fellow deputies to Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital.

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.

"Unfired ammunition is still within the area of the mobile range and poses extreme danger to investigators and first responders," Luna said.

"Once the debris have cooled, the investigation will continue."

The two deputies were the only people inside the trailer when the fire started. Earlier reports indicated four deputies were injured, but Luna confirmed there were only two people injured during the blaze. Officials declined to elaborate on the injuries.

The fire was contained to the trailer where it started, said L.A. County Fire Department Deputy Chief Thomas Ewald. A second trailer next to the first was pulled away to prevent it from also catching 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.

[TGS]

All that precious ammo, gone.

[WobblyPossum]

The Vermont Police Academy has a trailer range. I can imagine that if the soundproofing insulation caught fire, the whole thing would go up quickly. They never kept ammunition stored inside it because the ammo was locked in a nearby bunker. I’m curious how much ammo there was in the LASD trailer and, if it was a substantial amount, why? Anything you can share publicly @SoCalDep?

[Jim Watson]

I’m thinking unburnt powder on the floor.

[Rex G]

I’m thinking unburnt powder on the floor.

Yes, probably so. Ranges, especially indoor/enclosed ranges must be maintained, regularly and often.

[AMC]

I reached out to @SoCalDep when I heard about this yesterday. He's no longer in the area, but shared insights about the mobile ranges being garbage, and not really properly maintained. Apparently, according to news reports, this particular trailer had been 'condemned' and hadn't been in use because of its condition, but was pressed back into service because another one on sight had electrical problems.

Deferred maintenance on LE ranges is a widespread problem. Our main outdoor range had a serious, dangerous structural integrity issue with the overhead baffles, held up by massive steel space frame trusses. They had never been properly sealed against the weather when they were installed, so they corroded from the inside out for over 30 years. It was discovered when a truss member snapped, causing the whole 80,000 pound baffle to sway. City wouldn't pay to replace them, even though the private engineering firm and the Public Works engineers said they couldn't safely be repaired, and it would be unethical to try. Then the city offered $4 million to DPW to 'fix' them....and it wasn't unethical anymore. The cost to replace them was $6 million I believe. With overruns and unexpected problems....the r'repairs' have gone to over $8 million. And the problem is still there. I gave copies of the original engineering reports and all the written reports of the ongoing problems to all of my staff, in case something ever happened and the city claimed ignorance.

I have a feeling a similar dynamic played out here, and I hope some heads roll.

[HCM]

I’m thinking unburnt powder on the floor.

That would be my first guess.

Having worked at a place that had an indoor range, the unburnt powder doesn’t just get on the floor.

I would assume that this was a commercial trailer range (even if old a decrepit) and would have flame resistant soundproofing materials, but you never know.

[SoCalDep]

Sorry guys… I was busy with retired guy stuff… Today I had to re-mount a couple guitars on the walls (the crappy anchors were coming loose), practice with the new Ibanez S-Series I bought yesterday, pick up the Dan Wesson .38 Super I ordered (No 10 day wait this time!), and drive to East-East Tennessee to pick up our new Boston Terrier puppy.

This is not to minimize the sad reality that two Deputies have been injured… but while I obviously still have strong connections, it’s not my life any more. I’m happy for that.

So on to relevant stuff.

The mobile ranges were a late 80s thing to get quals done. We are (for me… were) a huge County with tons of people needing to qual. Our main training range is in the far North of the county and our main southern range was shut down permanently in 2012. Efforts were made to fix things but money and government rarely work efficiently.

Lots of the mobile ranges are getting old and while one might blame “maintenance”, there’s no real good way to maintain them absent of being refurbished by the manufacturer… which resulted in one of them burning down while they were refurbing it.

The whole system sucks, but that’s not uncommon for law enforcement. I hated that way we qualified in the trailers - not from safety but because there was no reinforcement of anything. It was the ultimate “check the box”. After a couple of them burned down I recognized that they are a safety hazard, though the issues so far come from blatant asshattery or stuff done by ignorant people that very obviously could have started a fire. I don’t know what caused this fire, but if it was just running regular qualifications, hopefully it will cause the county, at the expense of a lot of pain, recovery time, and potentially life-changing issues for two people, to unfuck themselves.

[Erick Gelhaus]

Years back, when we had a SF Bay Area rangemasters association, there was a private company in SoCal that had a range trailer they traveled around the state with.

We hosted the trailer at a scheduled meeting. It had a rubber ball shoot back system in it - that much I remember. Fortunately, no one up our way dove into it. Though, IIRC, POST considered them at one point.

[Hambo]

Lots of the mobile ranges are getting old and while one might blame “maintenance”, there’s no real good way to maintain them absent of being refurbished by the manufacturer… which resulted in one of them burning down while they were refurbing it.

The whole system sucks, but that’s not uncommon for law enforcement. I hated that way we qualified in the trailers - not from safety but because there was no reinforcement of anything. It was the ultimate “check the box”. After a couple of them burned down I recognized that they are a safety hazard, though the issues so far come from blatant asshattery or stuff done by ignorant people that very obviously could have started a fire. I don’t know what caused this fire, but if it was just running regular qualifications, hopefully it will cause the county, at the expense of a lot of pain, recovery time, and potentially life-changing issues for two people, to unfuck themselves.

That's a lot of trailers burning down.