La Habra Families Return Home to Goo, Reassurances

Two La Habra families returned home Friday after being evacuated when 3,000 gallons of crude oil spewing from a ruptured pipeline Thursday covered their yards and filled a swimming pool with oozing black liquid.

A hazardous materials crew, clad in protective gear, worked through the day Friday, using powerful pumps to suck up the oil and contaminated soil into two 5,000 gallon trucks parked in the 1000 block of Citrus Drive.

Health officials, monitoring the air for toxic fumes, said the oil no longer posed any significant health threat, though the powerful stench continued to fill the air.

Officials said they were still unsure what caused the break in the 3-mile-long pipeline, which is owned by Crimson Oil in Denver. The line, which runs south from oil fields in La Habra to a central processing facility in Brea, is 40 to 50 years old, a company spokesman said.

A state official said the pipeline had passed a pressure test last year.

“These things are unfortunate. We do everything in our power to avoid something like this,” said Scott Buntmann, a Crimson Oil production foreman. But, he pointed out, “it looks and smells worse than it is.”

He assured residents Friday that the firm would cover cleanup costs and damages.

“I just said we want it to look like it did before,” said Linda Lewis, who found oil in her backyard. “[A company official] told me that was a reasonable request.”

Residents began to notice a strong odor Thursday afternoon. Tony Villelli, 80, went to investigate. “I took one look and called 911,” he said Friday.

Villelli spotted oil bubbling up along the edge of the street into the front lawn of his next-door neighbor, Donald Brooks, 75, a chiropractor.

The oil gathered in dark puddles on the lawn but was partially hidden by ivy ground cover. The oil eventually flowed down a retaining wall, into Brooks’ backyard and into his swimming pool.

When Lewis, the other next-door neighbor, arrived home at about 8 p.m., she peeked through a gap in the fence and saw that Brooks’ pool and deck area were completely covered with oil.

Firefighters, meantime, used sand berms to prevent the oil from spreading. Crimson is patching the rupture for now and will later put in a new section, said Richard Baker, a state Conservation Department official.

Last fall, state regulators began to put hundreds of miles of Orange County pipeline and thousands of miles statewide on maps, Baker said. The idea is to keep track of where the lines are and which ones have been tested.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Oily Mess

About 3,000 gallons of crude oil, bubbling up from a ruptured pipeline, made its way into the yards of two La Habra homes.

Areas affected by oil:

Pool

Driveway

Garage/workshop