Officials Say Spill Figure Was Off
Estimates of the amount of diesel fuel that spilled into Ballona Creek from an unknown source Thursday night may have been exaggerated, a Coast Guard spokesman said Friday.
Los Angeles City Fire Department spokesman Greg Acevedo had speculated that as much as 975,000 gallons of the fuel had spewed into the creek before the leak suddenly stopped at 8:05 p.m. Thursday.
But Coast Guard spokesman Pat Milton said Friday that the spill probably only amounted to about 1,000 gallons, and most of that either evaporated from the surface of the creek or escaped unnoticed into the ocean before three containment booms could be set in place.
The source of the leak--first noticed by Culver City firefighters at 4:45 p.m.--still has not been identified.
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