Crews are hard at work up and down the Los Angeles River, including multiple spots in Long Beach, cleaning up after thousands of gallons of crude oil leaked from a ruptured pipeline in East LA Friday.
LA County firefighters responded to a hazmat incident near E. Cesar Chavez and N. Eastern avenues around 3:20 a.m. According to California Department of Fish and Wildlife spokesperson Kristina Werner, the spill occurred when a telecommunications company crew installing fiber optic cables drilled too deep and ruptured a 16-inch pipeline 10 feet underground.
It took about 30 minutes for the valve to be shut off, according to multiple reports. Early reporting stated 2,400 gallons of crude oil spilled into the East LA intersection, but Werner said that was just an initial estimate by the first crew at the scene and that the department doesn’t “have an actual figure” at this point…