Fumes Force the Evacuation of LAPD Station

Los Angeles police officers, sworn to protect and to serve, were the ones who needed protection when fumes from a diesel-powered generator drove them from the Devonshire Division police station.

About 200 officers and civilians--and six prisoners--had to be evacuated in the incident Wednesday morning.

Six detectives became short of breath and complained of burning sinuses about two hours after a routine test of the backup power generator.

“The exhaust probably got sucked into the air-handling system in that part of the building,” said Los Angeles Fire Capt. Larry Hartman. Others in the building were not affected.

Paramedics treated the six officers outside the station. None needed to be hospitalized, Hartman said.

As the Fire Department’s hazardous materials team looked for the source of the fumes, police evacuated the entire building--even the six prisoners.

“When we evacuate,” Hartman said, “We don’t leave anybody behind.”

Handcuffed and bound by chains, the six men filed out of the jail to the back parking lot, where they were loaded into a van and guarded by five armed officers.

“We told them we were going on a field trip to the beach,” LAPD Sgt. Dan Mastro joked.

Mastro said the Devonshire Division’s policing continued without interruption, because 911 calls were being handled at the LAPD’s communications headquarters and patrol cars were still in the field.

“The only thing we couldn’t do was handle walk-ins,” Mastro said.

The Fire Department’s Hazmat team ruled out the usual culprits of police station toxicity--such as gun solvent and pepper spray--because officers said the fumes were odorless. That means the carbon monoxide in the engine’s exhaust, or fumes from the unburned fuel, which contains odorless elements, may have sickened the officers, Hartman said.

The evacuation lasted an hour. If the prisoners had been outside any longer, police were planning to move them to the Van Nuys Jail, Mastro said.

The generator was turned off, the building was aired out, and the police officers returned to their jobs.

“Everybody’s OK,” Mastro said.