Power Line Hits Street, Ignites Natural Gas Fire on South Main

A 34,500-volt power line fell on a Los Angeles street Friday, causing a natural gas leak and igniting flames that rose up to 15 feet, a city fire official said.

No injuries were reported, but hundreds of residents and workers were evacuated for up to six hours.

About 9:20 a.m., a delivery truck hit a sidewalk power pole, which in turn fell on a power line, Capt. Steve Ruda said.

He said that the combined electrical power of both electrical lines struck a sidewalk in the 2000 block of South Main Street. Ruda theorized that the impact ruptured an underground gas line and that the vapors filtered through the concrete, igniting when they reached the surface.

“I heard an explosion inside the shop go ‘boom,’ like a big firecracker,” said Moises Larios, a mechanic who was working nearby when the power line fell. “We ran inside and everything was off.”

Ruda said that almost 100 firefighters responded and cordoned off a six-block area that was guarded by police officers.

As utility crews dug in an effort to shut off the supply of natural gas, the people who were evacuated went to Los Angeles Trade Technical College under the care of Red Cross workers.

Ruda said firefighters did not want the “gas to find its way through the sewer system. Then we would have a major explosion.”

Firefighters ordered the main gas pipe shut down and permitted the remaining gas to “flare off” so it would not spread unnoticed.

Southern California Gas Co. spokesman Mike Mizrahi said that by 3:30 p.m. gas crews had repaired most of the damage to the pipe. They will return next week to do more permanent repairs.

City Fire Department spokesman Bob Collis said that by late afternoon, firefighters had given permission for residents to return to their homes.