MYSTERY BLOB EATING DOWNTOWN.Byline: Dana Bartholomew Staff Writer A mysterious black blob attacked downtown Los Angeles Downtown Los Angeles is the central business district of Los Angeles, California, located close to the geographic center of the metropolitan area. The sprawling, multi-centered megacity is such that its downtown core is often considered just another district like Hollywood or 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 tarry /tar·ry/ (tahr´e) 1. filled with or covered by tar. 2. thick, dark; resembling tar. tarry said of feces that are black and glutinous. See also melena. 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 The Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD), also known as the Los Angeles City Fire Department to distinguish it from the Los Angeles County Fire Department. It is the agency that provides fire protection and emergency medical services for the city of Los Angeles. 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 ``Ghostbusters'' character 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 pres·sur·ize tr.v. pres·sur·ized, pres·sur·iz·ing, pres·sur·iz·es 1. To maintain normal air pressure in (an enclosure, as an aircraft or submarine). 2. liquid shot from every street orifice orifice /or·i·fice/ (or´i-fis) 1. the entrance or outlet of any body cavity. 2. any opening or meatus.orific´ial aortic 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 The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please [ improve this article] or discuss the issue on the talk page. crews determined that the mysterious substance wasn't flammable and didn't pose any health risks, Myers said. But a sulpher-like smell lingered over downtown throughout the evening, Myers said. Incident commanders believe drilling operations linked to construction or oil recovery at Hill and 14th streets may have caused the substance to surface, Myers said. ``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 Robles is a common surname in the Spanish language meaning oaks, and may refer to:
By late afternoon, the American Red Cross American Red Cross: see 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(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): map Map: The Blob |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion