Posted on 02/21/2006 8:23:44 AM PST by mattdono
A mysterious black blob attacked downtown Los Angeles on Monday with a tar-like goo that oozed from manholes, buckled a street and unmoored a Raymond Chandler-era brick building, firefighters said.
About 200 residents were forced to flee as a hazardous materials team and dozens of firefighters worked throughout the day to identify what was first deemed "a black tarry substance" and later morphed into a "watery mud."
While outside temperatures struggled to break 60, sidewalks in the vicinity steamed at 103 degrees, Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Ron Myers said.
"It's worrisome in the fact that it will keep the street closed and residents will be evacuated till the building is considered safe," Myers said.
Firefighters were alerted at 3 a.m. by complaints of a sewer-like smell at an apartment house at 1220 S. Olive St. near Pico Boulevard, but found nothing.
They returned at 1 p.m. to find a Slimer-like ooze lurking beneath central Los Angeles.
"We were called back because there was a gooey substance, a tarry-type substance, coming out the underground electrical vaults, out of manhole covers in the street, through the sidewalks and possibly in one older apartment building," Myers said.
A 120-foot stretch of Olive buckled 1 1/2 feet, he said. The pre-1933 unreinforced masonry apartment building shifted one foot from its foundation. Sidewalks were as hot as Jacuzzis.
And a pressurized liquid shot from every street orifice located above what used to be a historic oil field downtown.
No one was injured in what amounted to a black lagoon. Hazmat and Urban Search and Rescue crews determined that the mysterious substance wasn't flammable, Myers said.
"Incident commanders are evaluating some form of drilling operation one or two blocks away as the possible cause," he added.
"They told us to get out from the building, because, probably, I don't know, anything could happen. The basement was flooding," resident Mary Robles told KABC-TV, Channel 7.
By late afternoon, the American Red Cross had set up an evacuation center for the 150 adults and 50 children forced to flee the stuff of nightmares.
"We're opening a shelter," said Nick Samaniego, spokesman for the Red Cross of Greater Los Angeles. "We're looking for a place to put them."
Dana Bartholomew, (818) 713-3730
dana.bartholomew@dailynews.com
La Brea Tarpits are there...must be spreading.
Duh... >> "I wonder if Tommy Lee Jones was on seen scene"
Is this the long-sought proof that oil is not a fossil fuel?
Women and minorities are hardest affected.
Cool.
I wonder if any man-eating tomatoes will show up too.
Maybe during this middle of this, Tommy Lee Jones was un-seen??
Kirstie Alley?
and up from the ground come a bubblin crude
Pictures? Video? I want to see LA eaten!
Bump for later.
Just look out for Anne Heche!
I wonder how many other bad movie junkies out there will get the reference...
Is this for real?
Something is forcing this up from below ground. I would take this as a warning of a possible earthguake. There are test wells near LA where the water is near boiling.
Dang! You beat me to it!
volcanoes in LA would be interesting.
heh heh heh
nothing that good, some OIL company was shooting a high pressure stream of water 120psi into an old well, and the result was the street ooz..I big mess
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.