Families Return After Crew Cleans Up Oil Spill

LA HABRA — About 3,000 gallons of crude oil from a ruptured pipeline under a La Habra residential street spewed into the yards of two homes, causing the evacuation of two families and an all-day cleanup Friday by a hazardous materials crew.

The families were allowed to return early Friday, a day after neighbors began to smell the fumes and saw oil seeping into the yards and a swimming pool behind one of the homes in the 1100 block of Citrus Drive.

Workers pumped the oil and contaminated soil into two 5,000-gallon trucks parked on the street.

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

Officials said they were still unsure what caused the break in the three-mile-long pipeline, which is owned by Crimson Oil in Denver. The pipe, which runs 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.

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

Residents began to notice a distinct odor Thursday afternoon. Resident 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 oozing black liquid gathered in dark puddles on the lawn but was partially hidden by ivy. The oil eventually flowed down a retaining wall and into Brooks’ pool.