Wedding Party Overdoses Trigger Investigation Of LBFD Employees

LONG BEACH, CA – The Long Beach Fire Department was investigating Monday whether or not any of its employees were involved in overdoses at a wedding after party in Santa Barbara.

According to the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office, its deputies responded about 1:50 a.m. Sunday to the 2800 block of Exeter Place to investigate a report that a man and woman had stopped breathing.

"When deputies and Santa Barbara County firefighters arrived, they located approximately 30 people inside the residence," according to an SBSO statement. "The group was attending a post-wedding celebration at the house, which had been rented for the occasion."

Both the male and female patients, who were in their late 30s and from the Long Beach area, exhibited signs of opiate overdoses, according to the sheriff's department, which reported "an additional male and female, also in their late 30s (and) from Long Beach began displaying the same symptoms and were treated as well."

"The patients are believed to have snorted a white powder from an unknown source," officials said. "No drugs were located inside the residence. Paramedics administered Naxolone to all four patients and they were subsequently transported to the hospital."

Naxolone, marketed as Narcan, is used to revive drug overdose patients.

A Long Beach Fire Department spokesman said an investigation was started into the potential involvement of department employees.

"The department has been made aware of a situation regarding a few of our employees that were in Santa Barbara this past weekend," LBFD Capt. Jack Crabtree said. "The department has initiated an investigation into the potential allegations of misconduct. This is a personnel issue and we will not be able to provide any additional information at this time."

The Long Beach Post website learned of the potential involvement of Long Beach Fire Department personnel from "a source with knowledge of the incident."

City News Service and Patch staffer Emily Holland contributed to this post; Image via Shutterstock