Liquid oxygen spill closes Marina del Rey emergency room
The emergency room of Cedars-Sinai Marina Del Rey Hospital was closed Monday morning after a liquid oxygen spill, authorities said.
The Los Angeles Fire Department’s hazardous materials team was called to the hospital shortly before 9 a.m. The spill was affecting the ambulance entrance, according to the LAFD. By 11 a.m., authorities determined the spill had come from a sheared pipe on an oxygen tank next to the emergency room.
The LAFD initially reported the spill was liquid nitrogen and that a vapor cloud that had formed over the spill could be flammable or have other hazardous qualities. The fire department’s hazardous materials team later determined the spill was liquid oxygen and that it posed no danger.
L.A. Fire Department spokeswoman Margaret Stewart said no injuries had been reported but that hospital staff requested that some patients be transferred. All surgeries scheduled for Monday were postponed, a hospital spokeswoman said.
Nearly the entire contents of the 2,000-gallon oxygen tank spilled, covering a 100-foot area, according to the LAFD. The hazardous materials team cleared the frozen liquid so a building engineer could repair the pipe, Stewart said.
alejandra.reyesvelarde@latimes.com
Twitter: @r_valejandra
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