Flammable Solvent Floods Alley
Nearly 100 gallons of a flammable petroleum solvent swamped an industrial park alley here early Saturday morning, but caused no injuries and posed little hazard, Los Angeles city fire officials said.
Workers for an unidentified business at 20730 Dearborn Street were transferring the petroleum product, naphtha, from an underground tank when a pump became stuck in an open position and spilled the solvent onto the ground, where it quickly flooded the alley.
An employee of Banner Gelatin Products, which has an office in the industrial park where the spill occurred, reported it to fire officials at 6:08 a.m.
Firefighters arrived to find the workers building a dike to contain the spill in the alley, said Fire Department spokesman Brian Humphrey.
The overflow was cleaned up by spreading an absorbent compound over the solvent and scooping it into barrels.
Firefighters remained at the scene for about an hour, then turned the clean-up over to the Los Angeles County Department of Health’s hazardous materials team.
Humphrey said the Health Department would conduct an investigation, but county officials could not be reached Saturday.
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