Man Burned in Drug Lab Explosion
A 34-year-old Sylmar man was burned over 90% of his body on Saturday when a methamphetamine lab exploded behind a home in this unincorporated desert community near Palmdale, authorities said.
Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman Diane Hecht said the noontime explosion, which occurred in a travel trailer and shed attached to a Llano home near 185th Street East and Avenue S-8, destroyed the lab used for manufacturing the illegal drug “speed.”
The injured man, Emilio Gonzalez Patino, will be charged with illegally operating a drug lab if he survives his injuries, Hecht said. She said another man, apparently a passerby, discovered Patino, drove him to a nearby market on Pearblossom Highway, and called paramedics.
The Sheriff’s Department transported Patino by helicopter to Antelope Valley Hospital Medical Center, then airlifted him to the Los Angeles County USC Medical Center intensive burn care unit.
In addition to his second- and third-degree burns, a hospital spokeswoman said Patino suffered from smoke inhalation and had broken both hands.
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