TEQUESTA — Eight teenagers escaped from a behavioral treatment center Friday night and 11 others were arrested after a riot broke out inside the facility, according to the Martin County Sheriff’s Office.

The Sheriff’s Office, Tequesta Police Department and Jupiter Police Department responded after 9 p.m. to the brawl that involved about 50 patients at SandyPines Residential Treatment Center located on Southeast Tequesta Terrace, according to John Budensiek, chief deputy of the Sheriff’s Office.

The incident started when two girls started fighting, then took the lanyard and key card of an intervening staff member to open doors inside the facility and escape, he said. Patients in other dormitories of the facility heard the commotion of the fight and “were already verbally riled up, engaging in like a shouting match from dorm to dorm,” Budensiek said.

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“The doors were opened, and then that just really kind of put the icing on the cake as far as a fight ensuing,” he added.

The eight female patients who escaped were found in a wooded area behind the facility and returned to SandyPines, Budensiek said. Eleven other patients involved in the riot faced various charges, including inciting an affray or fight, resisting arrest and battery on a law enforcement officer or staff member.

The 11 arrested, who are ages 14 to 15, were taken to the St. Lucie Regional Juvenile Detention Center, he said.

At least three people were injured in the riot, including a staff member of the facility, where windows were broken and furniture was destroyed, officials said.

“To my recollection, we have never had anything like that take place,” Budensiek said. “It was the first time we’ve dealt with something of that magnitude, that many people having a civil uprising within a facility.”