Shower of Oil Wasn’t in the Forecast

The hissing began about 6:15 a.m. Wednesday in a Huntington Beach neighborhood near the ocean, an area where oil wells have operated for decades.

Many residents thought it was a routine release of steam from the nearby AES power plant. But when the pungent odor of tar seeped into their homes, they knew something was wrong.

“I looked out my bedroom window and it was raining oil,” said Nancy Buchoz, 39, a 10-year resident. “There was a 40-foot geyser ... in the air.”

“It sounded like a volcano erupting,” said resident Jennifer Mustafa, 36. “I couldn’t believe it was oil.”

An inactive well with an above-ground “grasshopper” pump, surrounded by large trees and a chain-link fence, spewed methane and fine particles of oil, showering about 100 homes near Hamilton and Magnolia streets with sticky black grease, officials said.

About 300 gallons of oil erupted over two hours, and the cause was probably a valve malfunction in the pump, said Battalion Chief Rick Grunbaum of the Huntington Beach Fire Department.

As of late afternoon, officials still couldn’t reach the owner of the well.

No one was evacuated. Officials urged residents to stay indoors for about four hours as a cleanup crew stopped the leak -- mostly because the odor is an irritant. They said there was no significant hazard in the oil itself and that residents should use common-sense measures such as washing fruit they pick from their trees. They also asked that pets be kept indoors shortly after the incident.

The discharge will be investigated by state and local agencies, the officials said.

The well, drilled in 1946 and long idle, is 4,000 feet deep. It sits on a 38-acre site near Edison High School that includes the former Ascon landfill.

The site held garbage in the 1930s and was later used to hold construction debris, said Mary Urashima, a spokeswoman for landowner Cannery Hamilton LLC. In 2001, a county grand jury report described several hazards at the landfill, including three 25-foot-deep oil-tar lagoons.

The place was so hazardous, the report said, “that there is no safe way to remove the contents of those lagoons without jeopardizing the safety of the surrounding community, including Edison High School.” Cannery Hamilton officials agreed in January to clean up the site, which could cost $100 million and take three years to complete.

Wednesday’s shower prompted many residents to drive their children to nearby Kettler Elementary School and administrators to keep students indoors.

Officials urged residents not to wash their cars because the runoff would pollute the ocean. Instead, residents should go to carwashes, where runoff is filtered.

Mustafa’s neighbors in her cul-de-sac cleaned her husband’s new silver Porsche Carrera convertible, which was stained with droplets of oil -- and not in its convertible mode.

“You don’t know what oil will do to all this stuff,” Mustafa said. “It’s scary. It’s everywhere you look.”

Buchoz took pictures of the mess and cleaned what she could. Her patio furniture, awning, palm trees, grass and cars were all dotted with oil. “It’s kind of a bummer to start your day out like this.”