PIPELINE UNWELCOME WHERE QUAKE FUELED FIRES.

Byline: Terri Hardy Daily News Staff Writer

When the rumblings of the Northridge Earthquake began, frightened residents living near Wolfskill Street fled from their homes - and plunged into a nightmarish inferno.

A nearby Atlantic Richfield Co. oil pipeline built in 1925 ruptured and ignited, sending multistory fireballs exploding into the air. Oily black flames burst from storm drains and streamed down their street.

``We heard three big pops - boom, boom, boom - and saw a river of fire coming toward us,'' said Sal Rodriguez, who has lived on the corner of Wolfskill Street and Amboy Avenue for most of his 18 years. ``Everyone ran. I looked back and all I saw was a wall of fire taller than the telephone poles coming down on us.''

When flames subsided, the area on the border between Mission Hills and the city of San Fernando was a blackened ruin; five homes were charred, 16 cars were destroyed and one person was burned, according to a report issued by the state Fire Marshal's Office, which oversees pipeline safety.

With the memory of the fire fresh in their minds, residents of the area said they are leery of a proposal by an oil consortium to build a new oil pipeline through the northeast Valley.

The 132-mile Pacific Pipeline would carry up to 130,000 barrels of crude oil a day from a point south of Bakersfield to refineries in Wilmington and El Segundo.

Proponents say the modern pipeline would include state-of-the-art technology and safety measures. But critics fear another explosive rupture in their earthquake-prone communities.

More than two years later, homeowners around Wolfskill Street say they still don't like that fact that the Arco pipeline is in the ground beneath them, even though Arco closed the line after the earthquake.

And there is the lingering mystery of why the crude oil rupture burst into flames so easily, said residents who have filed a class action suit against the oil company, claiming they were exposed to toxic chemicals during the fire.

``The pipeline shouldn't have been here,'' Rodriguez said. ``It's just not right.''

The pipeline break led to an investigation by the state fire marshal, who this year began pushing for all oil companies to replace or shut down aging pipelines.

``It's a serious problem. We fully intend to seek legislation if they don't comply,'' said Charles Samo, supervising pipeline safety engineer for the state Fire Marshal's Office.

An investigation by that agency discovered ruptures in eight antiquated acetylene welds along the Arco pipeline, which carried San Joaquin Valley crude oil 134 miles from Kern County to a refinery in Wilmington.

``The fact that it's acetylene welding doesn't make it a a bad product, it's just that in seismic areas, it's not as good,'' said John Thom, an Arco spokesman.

Thom said that since the rupture, Arco has done all it could to help residents affected by the spill.

``We had people there that same day. We did everything we could to make the neighborhood whole,'' Thom said.

Nevertheless, Arco has pledged to eliminate the 112 miles of acetylene-welded pipelines from their system's 15 pipelines by the end of 1997, Samo said.

Around World War II, the technology advanced to arc welding, a ``far superior'' technique that produced a stronger seal, Samo said.

``When acetylene-welded pipelines were constructed in the '20s and '30s, they didn't have the technology or quality control to make good-quality welds,'' he said.

Of the nearly 8,000 miles of pipeline overseen by the fire marshal, more than 130 miles still have acetylene welds, much of that in Los Angeles County, said Robert Gorham, pipeline safety engineer for the Fire Marshal's Office.

Samo said he was confident that oil companies would voluntarily replace their acetylene-welded pipelines because they fear the cost of a spill cleanup.

``All of them know the extent of this problem and know it's extremely expensive to clean up a spill,'' he said.

Although the broken pipe has been out of service for 2-1/2 years, Arco still is facing the threat of criminal and civil charges from state and county authorities for the environmental damage the oil spill caused.

Nearly 240,000 gallons were spilled. Some of it ran down storm drains across the Valley and ended up in the Los Angeles River. Most of it flowed from a break further north, spoiling a 12-mile stretch of the Santa Clara River. Cleanup costs have exceeded $15.6 million, the report said.

The Santa Clara River spill killed several hundred fish and birds. Some were endangered species, said Mike Giusti, associate fisheries biologist for the state Department of Fish and Game.

Arco is involved in settlement negotiations with the state Attorney General's Office as well as the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office to hammer out a ``multimillion-dollar settlement,'' said Michael Neville, deputy attorney general.

``Arco made it clear they they wanted to take responsibility,'' Neville said. ``Right now, it's just a matter of how many millions and how it will be paid.''

Thom, the Arco spokesman, said it would be ``inappropriate'' to discuss ongoing negotiations.

Still a mystery is why the crude oil caught fire so easily and burned with such intensity, according to a report by Joe Konefal, supervising arson and bomb investigator for the Fire Marshal's Office.

``(Arco) officials did not know why there was such a fire,'' Konefal wrote in his report. ``They stated that crude oil does not usually burn quite so readily.''

Laboratory tests of the crude samples found that they ignited at temperatures that would normally simply cause the oil to smoke.

``One witness describes the ignition of the vapors as a whoosh and quite fast.'' Konefal's report said. ``This is common with the ignition of substances that have a lower flash point, like gasoline, lacquer thinner, acetone, etc., not crude oil.''

Arco's Thom said the company sometimes does thin its crude.

``California crude oils tend to be rather thick. Blending oils or chemicals with the crude allows it to flow more easily,'' Thom said.

The class action lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on behalf of residents along the entire pipeline, charges that the oil carried ``abnormal amounts'' of highly flammable toxic chemicals, including benzene.

``Arco knew the pipeline was defective and was being used to pump ultrahazardous chemicals,'' the lawsuit alleges.

By breathing the ``cloud of toxic fumes,'' the suit claims, hundreds of residents suffered symptoms including vomiting, dizziness, unconsciousness, difficult-to-diagnose central nervous system disorders and depression.

In addition, the lawsuit claims Arco was negligent in maintaining the pipeline in part because of ``excessive pressure used to operate the aging pipeline.''

Arco refused to comment on pending litigation.

The rupture of Line 1 took residents by surprise - no one knew that an oil pipeline was buried 3 feet beneath their streets, said resident Sandy Jimenez.

The quake cracked the aging pipes, sending crude bubbling to the surface. It mixed with water from ruptured lines and began flowing down the street.

The turbid river was colorless and resembled water, Jimenez said. But there was something wrong: It carried a heavy gasoline-like odor that made residents dizzy as they inhaled its vapors.

As frightened residents mingled on their streets in the minutes after the quake, a fearful Joe Lozano loaded his wife and mother-in-law into their 1984 Toyota Supra and drove from their home about 5 a.m.

Winding through chaotic streets, the Lozanos headed down Wolfskill Street and turned onto Rincon Avenue, Lozano said.

The Supra skidded through the oil mixture, and witnesses told fire investigators that the car backfired, then caught on fire, Konefal said in his report.

``It wasn't until days later that it hit me,'' Lozano said in an interview. ``We could have easily burned in that car. We could have died.''

The flames spread in a blazing chain-reaction through Mission Hills and San Fernando.

Cars and windows exploded. Trees became flaming torches. Manicured lawns in the working-class neighborhood were reduced to charred earthen plots, residents said.

Screaming residents hastily evacuated, including an elderly woman who had to crawl over a large retaining wall.

The wall of fire passed by O'Melveny Elementary School. It spread to O'Melveny Avenue, racing past San Fernando High School and the Church La Trinidad.

On Brand Avenue, flames leapt through the storm drains and explosions reverberated through the streets.

``We thought our house was going to go next,'' said Benita Trujillo. ``I thought lives were ending, homes were exploding.''

The fire's path continued along Laurel Canyon Boulevard, burning utility poles and sweeping past the Franciscan Sisters Home.

``I could never go through anything like that again. I just couldn't,'' Jimenez said. ``It takes everything out of you when you think the whole world is ending.''

It took overwhelmed firefighters four hours to arrive to the area, the fire marshal's investigation shows.

Even then, the flames were still fierce, said Firefighter Oscar Gutierrez.

``We tried to use foam to knock it down, but we didn't have enough,'' he said. ``We were worried because the (oil) was still coming down the street and there could have been another ignition.''

CAPTION(S):

Photo, Map

Photo: (color) Sal Rodriguez, in his corner home whenthe earthquake struck, recalls that outside, ``all I saw was a wall of fire taller than the telephone poles coming down on us.''

Tom Mendoza/Daily News

Map: Route of popeline through Wolfskill Street neighborhood