A ruptured pipe allowed about 1,200 gallons of crude oil to seep onto the streets of LA’s Wilmington neighborhood Monday night.
Hazmat units with the Los Angeles County Fire Department responded to reports of oil flowing through cracks in the asphalt on the 1200 north block of Neptune Avenue at 7:00 p.m. Monday, officials told KABC News in LA.
Phillips 66, the pipeline operator, took responsibility for the leak, the Los Angeles Times said.
“You never expect something to start bubbling out of the concrete,” resident Naomi Payan said.
Wilmington is in South Los Angeles.
The neighborhood is adjacent to the Wilmington Oil Field – one of the largest oil fields in the continental United States – and near several refineries, the Associated Press reported.
A Phillips 66 spokesperson said it appeared the oil didn’t seep under any houses or into ground water or local water sources, KABC said.
“Officials suspected Monday’s magnitude-4.4 earthquake in Westwood as a possible cause, but the official cause has yet to be determined,” KABC said.
