Tarzana garage explosion hospitalizes 2 people; drug lab suspected
Two people were hospitalized in critical condition after a suspected drug-lab explosion blew up a garage in Tarzana Thursday night.
Firefighters responded to a fire reported at a detached garage in an alley on the 18800 block of Redwing Street in Tarzana at 10:56 p.m. Thursday, according to the Los Angeles Fire Dept.
The garage had "obvious signs of an explosion," according to the department, and the fire reportedly "blew itself out."
A 26-year-old woman and a 52-year-old man were both hospitalized in critical condition. Both had burns to about 30 percent of their bodies. The two individuals were reportedly found in the rubble of the blast.
Evidence of a possible butane "honey-oil" lab was found, a process to extract concentrated THC from cannabis.
"It's amateurs who think they know how to handle these chemicals, and they were probably taught just some very basic procedures on how to extract the THC, but they don't realize how flammable, how dangerous the chemicals are," said L.A. IMPACT Detective Cecil Mangrum.
"Something as simple as a spark from a light socket or a wall plug can set off an explosion that'll result in something as big as this, where it blows off the entire rear wall of the garage," said Mangrum.
No other buildings were damaged.