Tar Balls Along Shore Force Closures Of Beaches In Long Beach
LONG BEACH (CBSLA.com) — Beaches in Long Beach were closed Wednesday from First Place to 72nd Place after officials received reports of tar balls washing onto shore.
Long Beach Fire Department and city officials determined it was in the interest of public safety to close beaches as cleanup efforts began.
Coast Guard officials are collecting samples of the petroleum-based product from the shoreline for testing to determine if the tar is related to the May 19 spill of oil off Santa Barbara.
Health officials want to remind the public that oil tar can cause skin irritation and warned beachgoers to avoid contact with the product along shore and in the water.
KCAL9's Stacey Butler reported from the command post at La Verne and Ocean where investigators tried to find the source of the tar balls.
She said calls started coming in early this morning.
Fire crews told Butler they have already determined the tar is not related to any Long Beach refineries. They could not rule out Santa Barbara's spill as a cause.
"We have obviously looked at our Long Beach gas and oil operations. We did site inspections to make sure there were no indications of any release on any of our oil islands or any of our gas and oil operations. We're pretty confident to say that that doesn't appear to be the case here," said Jake Heflin, Long Beach Fire Department spokesperson.