HazMat Crews Investigate Gas Leak In Playa Del Rey
PLAYA DEL REY (CBSLA.com) — Officials Monday were trying to determine if a gas leak in Playa del Rey was an act of vandalism.
KNX 1070's Pete Demetriou reports the Los Angeles Fire Department received a call around 12:30 a.m. about a high pressure natural gas leak at the Southern California Gas Storage Facility in the 8100 block of Gulana Avenue.
HazMat Crews Investigate Gas Leak In Playa Del Rey
"We arrived on scene and we noticed we had that high pressure gas leak as well as a lot of additional concerns so we escalated up to a full HazMat assignment," Batt. Chief Michael Bowman said.
Fire officials contained the leak around 4 a.m.
SoCal Gas officials said the area was safe and evacuations were not necessary.
"We want to assure our neighbors that natural gas is not toxic. Although it smells funny, it's not harmful," Denise Campos said. "We also apologize for the inconvenience, this was definitely not a planned incident, and we apologize if this disrupted their President's Day plans in any way."
Los Angeles police were investigating the incident with assistance from the FBI.
"Thee department quickly responded and was able to shut off the gas," Capt. Vice Davalos said. "At this time we do not know if this was accidental or if it was intentional, we are investigating that. Once the property has been cleared, then our investigators will move in and begin their investigation."
The FBI's Laura Eimiller said, "As a precaution, the Bureau routinely responds to potential threats to facilities that would be considered critical to infrastructure."
Authorities said they initially believed the vehicle belonged to the gas company, but it's actually owned by a contractor, gas company spokesperson Angela Fentiman said.
It's not clear if it already was at the storage facility before it ended up on the gas well, according to LAPD Officer Wendy Reyes.
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