Sixteen members of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department SWAT team were hurt on Wednesday afternoon when an explosion went off during an indoor training exercise in Irvine.
It happened around 1 p.m. at the Jerry Crowe Regional Tactical Training Facility, which belongs to the FBI. The SWAT team was holding its annual joint training with the department’s bomb squad, said Sheriff’s Sgt. Frank Gonzalez. The bureau had only lent them the space. “The FBI had nothing to do with the incident,” Gonzalez said. “They were just providing a training location for both of our teams.”
Officials gave a detailed count of the injuries. One deputy has a leg injury that needs surgery, though it is not life-threatening. Two others had superficial wounds, one to the back and one to the leg, and neither needs surgery. The other 13 were taken to local hospitals as a precaution because they felt dizzy and had ringing in their ears. By later in the week, 15 of the 16 had been released. The deputy awaiting leg surgery remained in the hospital.
Everyone who took part was wearing protective equipment, Gonzalez said. He added that the department’s medical plans for training days were activated immediately. “It’s not a good feeling anytime an injury happens to anybody, including members of our own staff,” he said, “which I am encouraged to say that we acted properly.”
No one from the FBI was hurt, bureau spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said. The facility is used for firearms training and qualification tests by the FBI and by local law enforcement agencies.
Cause unknown
Nobody has said what set off the blast. “That’s gonna be part of the investigation,” Gonzalez said. “Trying to figure out exactly why that happened.” The Sheriff’s Department and the FBI are investigating together.
The department’s Hazardous Devices Section provides bomb disposal technicians to jurisdictions across Orange County and handles 600 to 800 service requests a year, including 50 to 80 improvised explosive devices. The SWAT team has its own demanding schedule. The department says members logged more than 9,800 hours of training in 2015, and any deputy hoping to join the team goes through a rigorous selection process.
It is not the first training accident of its kind. In September 2022, a training device “unexpectedly exploded” during an explosives response course run by the FBI’s Philadelphia field office, wounding five bomb technicians: three Montgomery County sheriff’s deputies, a Pennsylvania State Police trooper and an FBI special agent.
Sources
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- 16 SWAT members injured after explosion at FBI training facility in Southern California
- 16 Officers Injured in FBI Facility Explosion
Sources
- Explosion at Irvine, CA, FBI Training Facility Injures 16 | Firehouse
- 16 SWAT members injured after explosion at FBI training facility in …
