California regulators have accused the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department of skipping inspections, neglecting maintenance and committing an array of “willful” safety violations that led to a 2023 mobile shooting range fire that killed a deputy and injured another, according to records obtained by the Los Angeles Times.
Last month, the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health hit the department with just over $300,000 in fines for a series of safety violations in a mobile range trailer parked outside the Castaic jail complex. Inspectors said the buildup of combustible dust — such as accumulated gunpowder — caused the deadly blaze.
Both of the burned deputies were hospitalized, and last month one of them — Alfredo “Freddy” Flores, 51 — died. He was buried May 9 during a funeral in Sylmar.
“We now know that Freddy lost his life because mobile trailers like the one he was in had a known history of catching fire due to poor design and poor maintenance,” said attorney John Carpenter, who is representing the Flores family.
The Assn. of Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs blamed county leaders on the Board of Supervisors for failing to “properly fund and equip” the Sheriff’s Department.
“The fire that caused Freddy’s tragic death was foreseeable and avoidable,” union President Richard Pippin wrote in an email.
The Sheriff’s Department said the blaze is still under investigation and declined to answer several specific questions about the incident, including whether the problems identified by the state have been fixed.
