Irvine : San Diego Creek Hit by 2nd Chemical Spill

For the second time in two weeks, hazardous-material teams and cleanup crews Wednesday were called on to handle a chemical spill in San Diego Creek.

The spill, several hundred gallons of a chlorinated hydrocarbon liquid, was kept from reaching the environmentally sensitive areas of Upper Newport Bay by a dam erected across the creek channel at Campus Drive, according to Pat Antrim of the Orange County Fire Department.

On April 7, aircraft cleaning solvent that had been spilled at the Tustin Marine Corps helicopter station flowed into the bay, which is an ecological reserve and a habitat for numerous species of birds and fish. Although there had been reports of dead fish and sick birds in the bay after the spill, state Fish and Game officials later said they had no evidence to confirm the reports.

Antrim said that no wildlife damage was reported after Wednesday’s spill, which was discovered about 9 a.m. by a bicyclist riding on a path that runs along the creek channel. The substance had left an oily sheen on the water, Antrim said.

Irvine and county Fire Department hazardous-materials experts, along with workers from the county Environmental Management Agency and the Irvine Ranch Water District, halted the spill’s progress by stringing a dam of sandbags and plastic booms across a narrow neck of the creek near the UC Irvine campus.

Antrim said the substance, which was floating on the water, would be allowed to pool up behind the dam for several days and then be removed.

The spilled substance is one that has a variety of industrial uses, including lubrication and cooling, according to Antrim.

The spill came from the general area of Main Street and MacArthur Boulevard in Irvine, Antrim said, but the exact source had not been identified Wednesday afternoon.