CATLETTSBURG, Ky. — Inmates at a county jail in eastern Kentucky rioted late Saturday night, setting fire to a mattress in an enclosed hallway, filling the building with smoke and forcing officials to move about 70 prisoners to a nearby facility.

First responders rushed to the Boyd County Detention Center after local dispatchers received 911 calls from the jail around 11:30 p.m. Boyd County Sheriff Bobby Jack Woods said the initial call he received indicated that between 20 and 40 inmates were “trying to take over” the jail.

More than 150 first responders from Ashland, Catlettsburg, the Kentucky State Police, Boyd County, Greenup County and Grayson were dispatched to the scene. Police cars, ambulances and fire trucks lined nearby streets while dozens of residents stood on sidewalks and watched the situation unfold.

Some bystanders were frantic, looking for answers from law enforcement about their loved ones who either work in the jail or reside in it. Diane Maynard lives on Main Street and said her son is an inmate in the substance abuse program. “I thought people were dying,” said Maynard. “I didn’t know what was going on.”

Just past midnight, the maximum security inmates who allegedly started the fire were escorted from the jail to the adjacent Boyd Courthouse Annex. Heavily-armed law enforcement officers stood guard with a K-9 unit while the shackled inmates paced the room or sat at a table.

Around 12:30 a.m., jail employee Aaron Fitchpatrick emerged from the building and hugged his worried mother, who’d walked over to a large group of law enforcement officers to ask about her son. By that time, the fire was already extinguished but emergency crews were still assessing damages and ensuring no inmates had escaped.

Some inmates told The Ashland, Kentucky Daily Independent the fire was set in response to poor living conditions, including a lack of water. The inmates’ statements could not be verified Saturday night.

On Sunday morning, the detention center issued a statement denying the allegations.

“Earlier news reports stated that inmates had been without water and electricity for several days, which is not true,” the statement read. “Electricity was never interrupted and water was only off for about two hours prior to the riot incident due to an inmate damaging a sprinkler head, which caused substantial water damage to facility control systems.”

The damage caused by the fire led jail officials to shut the building down. About 70 inmates were transferred by Elliott County prison officials around 5 a.m. to the Little Sandy Correctional Complex near Sandy Hook, about 45 miles southwest of Catlettsburg.

The jail will remain closed for the “foreseeable future,” according to Woods. Officials said law enforcement agencies will have to reach an agreement with a nearby jail or prison to detain new arrestees until the jail is repaired.

Details for this story were reported by the Ashland, Kentucky Daily Independent.