Oil leak shuts down Sepulveda Boulevard in West L.A.
About 2,000 gallons of an oil-water mix spewed onto Sepulveda Boulevard in West Los Angeles Monday evening near the Westdale/Rancho Park area. About 40 gallons reached a storm drain. Thursday morning it was reported that hazmat teams were able to stop the oil from running out to sea, preventing environmental impacts
According to the Los Angeles Fire Department, authorities were first alerted about the material at 5:54 p.m. on Monday in the 2800 block of South Sepulveda Boulevard.
Sepulveda was closed between Sardis and Richland avenues through the 10 Freeway underpass for two days while crews worked to clean up the mess. As of Thursday morning, the roadways opened up with only partial lane closures in place.
Crews at the site said oil or an oil-like substance was spilling out at an approximate rate of 3 to 5 gallons per minute. The department said about 40 gallons seeped into the storm drain before firefighters contained the flow.
Firefighters requested a vacuum truck from Clean Harbors and Street Services delivered sand to diminish any possible environmental effects. They also notified the L.A. County Public Works Watershed Management Division. The fire department said Watershed, L.A. County Health Hazardous Materials Division, Clean Harbors and others will handle the cleanup.
Environmental Protection Agency personnel also responded to the scene Tuesday morning.
"The fire department's responsibility is here to mitigate the emergency, which we've done, and to contain that oil," said LAFD Captain Erik Scott. "Crews are using large saws to cut through the asphalt and to gain access to the dirt beneath using backhoes to carefully and safely remove that ... it's a slow, careful process." "
Scott said multiple pipelines run alongside Sepulveda Blvd. beneath the ground. The active oil pipeline that burst is owned by Torrance Logistics. It was reported Thursday morning that the pipeline is turned off and the company will be at the site over the next couple of days repairing it.
No injuries have been reported.
