SEAL BEACH : 10 Shops Evacuated in Gas Scare

About 10 businesses in the Rossmoor Shopping Center were evacuated for about two hours Wednesday morning after a truck ruptured a gas pipe.

The truck, which was backing up to deliver flour to Rossmoor Pastries at 8:30 a.m., drove onto the sidewalk and broke through a metal grate over a gas company equipment vault, rupturing a 1-inch gas line and valve.

Bakery owner Charles Seder said he and his partner, Janet Ahlgren, smelled a strong gas odor about 8:45 a.m. and called the county Fire Department, which responded along with police and evacuated nearby businesses while gas company workers repaired the damage.

The workers pinched off the pipe to stop the leak, then repaired the damage, said Bob Perry, district manager of Southern California Gas Co. Service was restored to seven businesses by early afternoon, he said; the three other evacuated businesses never lost service.

Seder said that until the pipe was pinched off, the sound of rushing gas could be heard a quarter-mile away.

A southerly breeze blew the gas away from the shopping center and nearby condominiums, Seal Beach Police Sgt. Rick Ransdell said.

“But if (the wind) had changed to the east, it would have concentrated in the stores, creating a potential for explosion and fire,” he said. “That is why we evacuated people.”

The only injury was to a woman who shopped at a supermarket, then complained of an upset stomach. She was taken by a friend to a hospital but felt better by the time she got there, Ransdell said.

The gas curtailment created a hardship for several businesses. “I’m so mad right now, I’m seeing stars,” said Gina Criss, owner of the Gina Criss Hair Studio. Without gas for dryers, the salon had no towels and no hot water, meaning patrons got cold shampoos, she said.

“I’m going to have to go and buy towels. This is really costing us,” Criss said.

Bakery owner Seder said that without gas for his oven, the only work to be done was decorating cakes and cleaning up.

“There were several birthday parties at Memorial Hospital in Long Beach that didn’t get their cakes this morning because we couldn’t get them done,” Seder said.