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
"Mystery blob eating downtown (LA)..."
Congealed essence of Michael Moore.
LOS ANGELES -- Residents of a downtown Los Angeles apartment building remain locked out after an oily substance spilled into the basement.
About 130 people were evacuated Monday afternoon after authorities saw the sludge bubble from pavement cracks and manhole covers on South Olive Street.
At first, no one knew where the mysterious liquid came from. Then authorities found that workers at a nearby petroleum drilling site were injecting hot water into old wells to extract leftover oil.
When the Saint James Oil Company stopped pumping hot water, the flow of oily liquid slowed down.
The apartment building has been red-tagged, meaning it'll be off-limits to residents until it can be inspected by safety experts.
http://www.fox11.com/stories/news/street.evacuated.asp
He had his stomach stapled. So it's not him.
LA used to be a very active oilfield.
Ever hear of UNOCAL (Union Oil of CALIFORNIA).
There is some wells still in the area; they get filled with parrafin, which is basically a wax like goop. It clogs up everything.
The way you get rid of parrafin is by a process known as "hot oiling" and/or pumping boiling water in the well.
I would look for a well nearby where someone was doing a high pressure water clean out. Then I would look for what is called a "casing head leak" --- a hole in the metal of the well somewhere very near the surface.
and what about the water temperature in yellowstone park raising?
And that mysterious patch of land abot 6 feet underground that was over 400 degrees for some un known reason.
And the 'bulge' forming in washington state?
Is a Supervolcano going to pop half of the US into the air?
Is she still alive?
See my post above.
and no one had a camera??????????????
wtf???
"Officials say additonal tests have identified the ooze as the slime trail left behind by the slug-like form of Hilary Clinton, who was in town this week to beg for yet more money to finance her Presidential campaign. Officials are expecting a repeat performance later this evening when Bill Clinton, free of his wife for several hhours while she glad-hands and fakes a smile, will be searching the streets for prostitutes and a Taco Bell..."
It is called OIL.
CO2 Dave, CO2!!!
Still alive, still working, married (to a man), has a kid...
Black Gold? Texas Tea?
Drill it!
JW
I'm gonna have that song in my head all day now . . .
Better yet:
"That's it, Bones! Anti-bodies...ANTI-BODIES...."
Do you have a link to the test well story? Something is happening...
I go here everyday ===> http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/
You can click on the animation portion too and watch how the quakes spread.
That doesn't sound good!
Parrafin, actually.
(An oil byproduct)
Yep. Oil is alive and well.
The active oilfield in question predates this part of LA by 40 years.
Volcano?
I Know WHat You Did Last Summer?
Ellen?
"Is this the long-sought proof that oil is not a fossil fuel?"
Since LA sits on an reef-based oilfield, I would think not.
There are pockets of that stuff all over LA. The La Brea Tar pits on Wilshire. Some years ago pockets of methane set parts of shopping malls in the area of the Farmer's Market on fire. But the most seditious goo is in Hollywood.
It's a preview of the Academy Awards!
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.