100 in Van Nuys Who Fled Fumes Return to Homes

About 100 Van Nuys residents returned to their homes Sunday after gasoline from an unidentified source entered the sewer system and forced an overnight evacuation.

The cause of the leak was unknown, and a spokesman for the Los Angeles City Fire Department said the investigation had been turned over to the Los Angeles police.

Residents of a two-square-block area near Haskell Avenue and Vanowen Street were allowed to return to their homes at 3:30 a.m. after firefighters flushed out sewers with foam and water, an operation that diluted concentrations of the fuel to safe levels, said Fire Department spokesman Jim Williamson.

No injuries were reported.

Many of the evacuees were taken by bus to Birmingham High School in Van Nuys on Saturday night, where the American Red Cross set up cots and served coffee, hamburgers and bagels in the gymnasium.

School custodians broke out a few basketballs for pick-up games, and a separate area of the gymnasium was prepared for residents who brought pets.

“We were cold, but they provided us with blankets,” said resident Beverly Baker. “The whole thing was handled very professionally.”

Another resident, Nobia Monsauret, arrived home about 11:30 p.m. to find the area cordoned off and her apartment building off limits.

Monsauret made herself an unexpected guest at her parents’ Simi Valley home. “I just had what was on my back,” she said.

Firefighters first responded to a report of a natural gas leak on the 6700 block of Haskell Avenue at 9 p.m., but quickly determined that the odor came from gasoline, Williamson said.

The department’s new hazardous materials team dropped chemical sensors into the sewers and took readings that showed potentially explosive concentrations of gasoline, including one on Haskell Avenue of a 100% concentration--pure gasoline fumes, the fire official said.

Pilot lights and water heaters were shut off to prevent the gas from coming into contact with an ignition source as authorities went door to door to alert residents to the danger.

Fumes rose out of manholes, and a gasoline odor permeated houses and apartments in the area, possibly rising from bathroom toilets, Williamson said.

The incident also prompted a 15-minute closure of the San Diego Freeway between Sherman Way and Victory Boulevard. The Victory Boulevard off-ramp was closed until 4:45 a.m.

In all, 23 fire companies and four ambulances responded to the incident.

Williamson said investigators are expected to check the possibility that the fuel was illegally dumped into the sewer system or that an underground storage tank sprang a leak. Police Department investigators were not available for comment Sunday.