3 Juvenile Inmates Flee From Firetruck

Three juvenile inmates from a Los Angeles County Probation Department fire camp jumped off a firetruck and fled into the underbrush Thursday afternoon when the truck slowed in traffic on the Pasadena Freeway in Elysian Park, officials said.

None of the three had been found by nightfall, the officials said.

Virginia Snapp, a spokeswoman for the probation department, said the inmates bolted from the back of the truck after successfully battling a small blaze in the park. She said the inmates are not kept under guard either at the camp in Tujunga where they were detained or out fighting brush fires throughout the county.