Fires Burn, Injuries Told in Rioting at Banning Jail

Inmates at a Riverside County jail facility in Banning rioted late Sunday, setting several fires that burned out of control because it was unsafe for firefighters to go in, nearby residents said.

Sheriff’s deputies had very few details of the riot that broke out at 10 p.m., saying only that there was a “disturbance” at the Banning Rehabilitation Correctional Center.

Officers from the Sheriff’s Department and several other police agencies were sent to the facility, to assist correctional officers, a sheriff’s spokeswoman said.

At least one barracks was engulfed in flames and as many a dozen people injured, a fire dispatcher said.

Steve Kile, an off-duty Banning firefighter, said he had heard reports of injuries on a radio scanner.

Tim Lewis, who lives across the street from the center, said that at about 10:15 p.m. he heard a “large explosion, like a sonic blast.”

“The whole place is in flames,” he said. “There are flames leaping up 50, 60, 70 feet high. And there must be 150 squad cars, police, fire trucks, paramedics.”

“There are reports of injuries,” Kile said. “There are several fires burning out of control because it’s not safe for firefighters to go in.”

Debbie Gates, a senior Riverside County Sheriff’s dispatcher, said hundreds of deputies and police from neighboring jurisdictions surrounded the facility late Sunday.

“All of our available on-duty personnel is out there,” said Gates, adding that deputies were called in from substations in Lake Elsinore, Hemet, Banning, Moreno Valley, Riverside and Indio.

Also on the scene were members of the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department, Indio City Police Department, Banning Police Department and the Banning Fire Department, she said.

One barracks was destroyed by fire, said Bonnie Underwood, a dispatcher for the Riverside County Fire Department. Paramedics had not been able to confirm the exact number of injuries because they were not immediately allowed inside the center, which holds between 300 and 400 inmates, she said.

“It’s some type of riot situation,” Underwood said.

She said no deaths were reported.

Kile, who lives within a block of the jail, said at least seven families have evacuated, adding that he sent his own children to another location.

“I can see flames in the area of the old administration building and a workshop area,” Kile said. “A transformer is arcing heavily. We’ve heard quite a few shots.”

Jayme Burtis of Los Angeles said a friend who is being held at the facility called him during the riot, saying “The whole mountainside was lit up with flames. He said four buildings were burning.

“I could hear people in the background cheering and whistling. My friend said there were massive amounts of police out in riot gear.”

Residents strongly opposed enlarging the camp and making it a medium-security, rather than a minimum security facility, Kile said.