METH LAB EXPLODES AS DEPUTIES ARRIVE

Authorities say officers checking on two children at a northwest Sedgwick
County home discovered of a meth lab Wednesday, which exploded in the
garage. Three deputies and the man and woman living at the house at 93rd
Street North and 135th Street West were treated for minor injuries. The
explosion occurred about 8 a.m.

Investigators don't know if the explosion was accidental or deliberately
caused to destroy evidence, said Division Chief Rick Brazill of the
Sedgwick County Fire Department.

"This stuff is so dangerous that I'm surprised this kind of thing doesn't
happen more often," he said.

Deputies were at the house because a school bus driver called 911 about 7
a.m. to request they check on two children who didn't show up on the
morning route.

The driver was suspicious because there was a lot of activity in the garage
for such an early hour, Brazill said.

Deputies had just arrived when they heard the explosion, said Sedgwick
County Sheriff's Lt. John Daily.

The children -- ages 3 and 13 -- were inside the house at the time and were
not injured, he said. They were placed in protective custody. The man and
the woman were arrested.

Methamphetamine labs have grown to one of the state's biggest drug problems
in the past eight years. Last year, 846 labs were busted here compared with
four in 1994.

Last week, a meth lab was found less than 20 feet from a Wichita elementary
school.

Meth is made by cooking a mix of chemicals that spew noxious and volatile
gases. Inhaling those gases can cause serious injury or death.

Neighbors downwind of the lab were told to shut their doors and windows
while firefighters put out the fire.

Some were shaken by the scare, but not completely surprised.

"We've known something has been going on down there for a while," said
Chris Ball, who lives two houses away. "A lot happening at strange hours of
the night."

But he didn't realize it was a meth lab.

"You don't want your kids out playing when something like that is going on
down the road," he said.