Investigation Continues Into Gas Tanker Explosion As EPA Wraps Up Clean-Up Effort
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — The investigation into gas tanker explosion next to South LA homes continued Monday.
The explosion caused a large fire in the 200 block of West Slauson Avenue in the unincorporated area of Florence before 8 a.m. Sunday, sending up a plume of black smoke visible across much of the Los Angeles. Two women were injured, one severely – she suffered second and third degree burns to 30 percent of her body.
The home closest to the blast was red-tagged. About 30 residents told to stay out of the area were placed overnight in hotels by the Red Cross.
Families were allowed to return back to their homes Monday, but most of them have come only to collect some belongings.
"Everyone's taking everything from their apartments and going to another place," resident Josefina Rios said.
The Environmental Protection Agency worked around the clock to clean up the neighborhood, which still smelled like gas and was considered a fire hazard almost 24 hours later.
"Overnight the landowner was directed by EPA to clean up the site, so they hired a contractor and they have pumped out the fire-damaged tanker that was the source of this whole mess. And what was pumped into a storage tank will remain until we can dispose of it," Robert Wise with the EPA said. "And they have also picked up some of the free liquid on the property. We're hoping when we get back out here later this morning, we will get the rest of that liquid out."
The EPA reopened Slauson by 6 a.m. The agency will return to the neighborhood at 9 a.m. and Wise says the EPA should have the site fully cleaned up by Tuesday afternoon.
LA City Fire and the LAPD continue to investigate the cause of the explosion and why the 9,000-gallon tanker was so close to homes.