PENDLETON — Three firefighters and a employee at the Pendleton Correctional Facility were injured this morning as the result of a fire that destroyed the prison’s mental health treatment center.

Twelve area fire departments responded to the fire, which started at about 8 a.m., Pendleton Correctional Facility spokeswomen Michelle Rains said.

According to Warden Dushan Zatecky, the injured staff member, who works in the maintenance department, was “sent to outside medical for smoke inhalation.” 

One firefighter was hospitalized for smoke inhalation and two others were treated at the scene and released, he said is a press release early this afternoon.

The prison is located at 4490 W. Reformatory Road.

The fire prompted the evacuation of offenders and staff from the treatment center — which is used for mental health services, such as group classes — and a contiguous auto body center. Offenders were sent to their dormitories or cells.

The fire was contained to the treatment center, which was a total loss.

“This is a non-housing unit building, and no offenders are being evacuated from the facility,” Pendleton Correctional Facility spokeswomen Michelle Rains wrote in an email to The Times-Post mid-morning. “Our perimeter is secure and there is no threat to our neighboring community.”

An emergency count was conducted during which all staff and offenders were accounted for.

The Pendleton Correctional Facility is a minimum and maximum security prison. Established in 1923, its average daily population in 2017 was 1,745. It has dormitory housing and celled space.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.