METH LAB CAUSE OF BLAZE AT COMPLEX; APARTMENT UNIT DESTROYED IN FIRE.

Byline: Daily News

Sheriff's officials confirmed Tuesday that an illicit methamphetamine laboratory sparked a fire that gutted an apartment unit and damaged three others.

Deputies were called to the apartment complex in the 43300 block of 16th Street West on Monday afternoon after a fire broke out and Los Angeles County firefighters discovered what appeared to be a clandestine drug lab inside the burning first-floor apartment unit.

``There were no fumes or gasses really that anybody was affected by,'' said fire Inspector Dennis Gross.

Deputies said they are looking for a man and a woman, each 24 or 25 years old, who were seen running from the apartment when the fire broke out around 3:40 p.m. Monday. The couple, who drove away in a red compact car, are wanted for questioning, officials said.

After firefighters discovered the apparent lab, North County Methamphetamine Lab Task Force members confirmed the apartment contained a laboratory in use producing the powerful stimulant methamphetamine.

Residents from nine apartments were evacuated while hazardous materials and bomb squads made the apartment safe, since the components used to make methamphetamine are both poisonous and explosive. Three neighboring apartments were damaged by smoke, and the apartment where the fire broke out was severely damaged by the flames, Cross said.

Approximately three pounds of chemicals used to make illegal drugs was seized, deputies said.

Sheriff's bomb experts carted away several containers they believed might contain explosive material and detonated them Tuesday morning in an isolated area, deputies said.