Several explosions and a fire severely injured two people and destroyed a shed early Monday, and firefighters said the blasts were caused by a butane tank that ignited while the pair were making illegal drugs.
The blaze was reported just after 1 a.m. in the 3600 block of Castle Reagh Place, about a block from Riverside City College, according to the Riverside Fire Department.
Battalion Chief Michael Staley said that two engine crews and two truck companies, staffed by about 16 firefighters, arrived to find flames raging in the shed behind the main house. The detached garage was also burning.
Staley said two occupants, whose identities were not released, were located and transported to an inland burn center for treatment of moderate to severe burns. Crews had the blaze contained within a half-hour.
Witnesses told firefighters that they'd heard several explosions just before the flames broke out, and crews later identified the source: a butane tank that was being used to make "honey oil,'' said Riverside police Detective Brandi Merrill.
"It was determined that the (butane honey oil) lab had exploded,'' Merrill said.
Butane gas is used to heat marijuana to extract the oil, and refine it into hashish, also called "wax.''
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The process can be extremely hazardous. In the past several years, multiple honey oil lab fires have erupted throughout Riverside County, causing major injuries.
