Volunteers, Anxious Residents Keep Vigil

In the early dawn today, clusters of residents and city officials stood on the world-famous strand here, looking out to sea.

The group held a subdued vigil as they watched for any signs of oil. Some had been on the beach all night. By noon, however, no oil had washed ashore. But city officials said the reprieve, due mainly to favorable winds, might not last more than a few hours longer.

About 2 miles out to sea, the oil tanker American Trader dominated the horizon. It was a leak from the ship that on Wednesday afternoon caused a 297,000-gallon oil spill and which triggered the residents’ anxious watch over their beaches.

“They’ve got to be more careful,” said Tim Wynglarz, 29, a steel worker, as he watched the ship. “This is my hometown.”

The oil slick was not visible from shore. Some on the beach got their best description of the slick from Mayor Thomas J. Mays, who flew over the ocean in a helicopter about 7:45 a.m. and then came to the beach at First Street and Pacific Coast Highway.

“The slick is about 5 miles long and 2 to 3 miles wide,” Mays told a cluster of reporters and residents on the beach.

A slight odor of petroleum hung over the beach area, near the pier, where most of the residents and sightseers gathered this morning. Earlier, the odor had been stronger, according to some at the beach. The mild Santa Ana wind, blowing from the land out to sea, had dampened the fuel smell as well as holding back the oil slick, according to several observers.

Victor Leipzig, a city Planning Commission member and executive director of the Bolsa Chica Conservancy, stood inside the city’s lifeguard headquarters building at the same intersection. Scores of volunteers approached him in the early morning hours.

“I came here with my children, and we want to do what we can to help save the birds,” said one woman.

Leipzig told her and other volunteers to walk the beaches, looking for any injured birds or sea animals.

“If you find any, gently put them in a cardboard box and bring them here (lifeguard headquarters), and then we’ll take them to Huntington State Beach headquarters and clean them off,” Leipzig said.

State officials said two dozen shore birds had been fouled by the oil, and six died.

Environmentalists standing on shore said they were relieved that the danger to the city’s main beach, at the pier, seemed to have lessened.

Still, the residents said, the danger still hovered, always dependent on the whims of winds and tides.

Debbie Cook, chairwoman of the environmental group Save Our Parks, said, “Something has to be done to prevent this from ever happening again. Maybe the solution is double-hulled boats.”