Mysterious Oil Spews Into Ballona Creek
Nearly a million gallons of oil spewed into Ballona Creek from an unidentified underground source Thursday night, while firefighters and others battled to contain the flow before it could reach the ocean.
Los Angeles City Fire Department Battalion Chief John Mittendorf said the oil appeared to come from a source--possibly a broken pipeline--near the 5800 block of Jefferson Boulevard, about eight miles from the point where Ballona Creek empties into Santa Monica Bay near Marina del Rey.
He identified the spill as “some kind of heavy fuel oil,” but Coast Guard spokesman James MacPherson disputed this, saying his agency had identified the substance as “a mixture of diesel oil and water.”
City Fire Department spokesman Greg Acevedo said 975,000 gallons of the substance entered the creek between 4:45 p.m., when it was discovered by the Culver City Fire Department, and 8:05 p.m., when it suddenly--and unaccountably--stopped flowing.
“It stopped naturally, we’re not sure how,” he said. “We’re still trying to find out who owns the line, what sort of system it is.”
The Coast Guard and the sheriff’s Harbor Patrol set floating booms across the creek at three points to contain the spill upstream and Coast Guard spokesman Tony Boudoin at Marina del Rey said they appeared to be effective.
“None of the substance . . . has come down this far,” he said.
Mittendorf said the spill appeared to offer no danger to residents or wildlife in the vicinity.
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