10,000 Gallons of Oil Spill On Los Angeles Streets

LOS ANGELES (AP) —
Crews sop up the remains of about 10,000 gallons of crude oil in the Atwater Village section of Los Angeles on Thursday(AP Photo/Nick Ut)
Crews sop up the remains of about 10,000 gallons of crude oil in the Atwater Village section of Los Angeles on Thursday(AP Photo/Nick Ut)

A geyser of oil sprayed onto buildings and puddled in knee-high pools of crude in Los Angeles streets after a valve on a high-pressure pipeline failed early Thursday.

About 10,000 gallons of oil spewed 20 feet high over approximately half a mile of the industrial area of Atwater Village at about 12:15 a.m., said Fire Capt. Jaime Moore.

Four commercial businesses near the border of Glendale were affected.

Crews were able to remotely shut off the 20-inch line after about 45 minutes.

“Inspectors went right to the failed valve. They knew right away where the problem originated,” said Moore. Determining exactly what caused the failure would take some time, he said.

Four people at a medical business a half-block away were evaluated with respiratory complaints, and two people were transferred to a hospital in stable condition, Moore said.

Quick-thinking workers used sand from a nearby concrete company to build a makeshift dyke.

“They created a pool and were able to hem in much of the oil,” Moore said.

By dawn, an environmental cleaning company had vacuumed up most of the mess. Crews put down absorbent material to sop up the remaining crude and then used high-pressure hoses to wash the streets with a soap solution.

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