GAS LINE EXPLODES IN ECHO PARK.

Byline: Mary Beth Alexander and Janet Gilmore Daily News Staff Writer

A natural gas pipeline exploded Friday afternoon during routine testing, injuring one crewman and spewing chunks of concrete and asphalt over an Echo Park neighborhood.

The blast just after 2 p.m. blew open a trench 3 feet wide and 260 feet long in the roadway along the 1300 block of North Glendale Boulevard. Windows of a business were shattered, a street light was knocked down and dispatchers got dozens of 911 phone calls.

Officials said there was no fire because nitrogen, an inert gas, was being pumped into the line when it exploded.

``You could see the rocks flying up in the air. Some of them hit as high as the street lamp,'' said Janie Peters, whose afternoon drive down the boulevard was interrupted by the explosion. ``I just sat there in my car. I had no idea what was going on.''

Southern California Gas Co. officials said they were investigating the cause of the blast.

`There was no excavating, no digging going on. There was an explosion. We don't know why at this point,'' spokesman Mike Mizrahi said.

One crewman who had been working on the line was taken to Queen of Angels-Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center. Hospital spokeswoman Gwyn Dilday said the 38-year-old man suffered cuts and bruises, and he was expected to be treated and released.

Another man brought to the hospital with minor injuries from the explosion also was expected to be released, Dilday said.

Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Brian Humphrey said four women approached paramedics and were taken to nearby hospitals. He said they did not appear to be physically injured but were emotionally distressed.

A two-block area was temporarily evacuated, Humphrey said.

The Gas Co. crew was conducting a pressure test on a portion of a 7-year-old natural gas line that recently had been connected to new pipe about 4 feet below the ground, Mizrahi said.

The gas that normally would run through the line had been turned off, Mizrahi said. Instead, he said, the crews were pumping in nitrogen at 1-1/2 times the pressure level the line was designed for - to check it for leaks and ensure it was strong enough for use.

Mizrahi said the test is a type considered routine and safe.

``I would characterize it as standard operating procedure,'' Mizrahi said.

Northbound traffic was rerouted for several hours along a portion of the boulevard as crews cleaned up the debris and Gas Co. workers searched for the cause of the blast.

The line that exploded was not providing gas to the area, so neighbors experienced no disruption of service, Mizrahi said.

Scores of neighbors and their children milled around the area staring at the chunks of concrete ripped up by the explosion.

From across the street, they surveyed the damage, including crumbled tiles on a Kentucky Fried Chicken facade and broken windows on an art studio.

``It was like an earthquake, because it was a big explosion. It only took seconds to happen,'' said one in the crowd, Vinicio De la Rosa.

The eruption rattled the nerves of shop operators and residents.

``I thought it was (a bomb) with all the terrorism happening,'' said Gloria Parise, who lives about four blocks away.

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Photo

Photo: A Los Angeles fire official inspects damage from a p ipeline explosion that buckled 300 yards of concrete Friday in Echo Park.

Associated Press