Crews Mop Up and Residents Return After Newport Blast

Shortly after 2:30 p.m. Saturday, workers using cranes lifted an oil rig off a Newport Beach well that exploded Friday afternoon and police gave Southern California Gas Co. crews the OK to fire up pilot lights in 1,200 homes.

The gas was turned off as a precaution shortly after the fire began. A gas company spokesman said about 100 employees going door to door had most customers’ service restored by 8:30 p.m.

The explosion and fire seriously injured one man and closed off Balboa Boulevard between 38th and 46th streets. Sgt. Bob Harrison said the street, which along with Newport Boulevard provides the only access to the Balboa Peninsula, will remain closed until at least noon today.

The Fire Department reported that 13 homes evacuated after 9 p.m. Friday had been reoccupied and the only serious damage was to a scorched but vacant building at 204 44th St. The American Red Cross manned an emergency shelter at Ensign Junior High School, 2000 Cliff Drive, but had no takers Friday night.

The fire was extinguished and the well capped by firefighters and private firms pouring mud into the hole. Police Officer Greg Armstrong said the danger of another fire or explosion was ended early Saturday and the final concern centered on the rig, which officials feared might topple onto surrounding houses.

‘Basically Cleanup and Traffic’

“Once that tower’s down, the operation is basically cleanup and traffic,” Armstrong said. “That was the biggest worry as far as public safety.” He said people are being encouraged to use other area beaches today.

The fire is believed to have started from a spark produced by city employees and private contractors attempting to cap the well, according to Police Officer Trent Harrison. City employee George Murdock suffered second-degree burns over 20% of his body and was reported in serious condition at UCI Medical Center.

Four other oil wells in the area were capped in 1973 and the 44th Street well was the only uncapped well in the city.

Employees of Crowley Environmental Systems of Santa Fe Springs meticulously steam-blasted gobs of oil from Balboa in the first of several cleanings required to remove the stubborn stains. The first effort had little effect and Harrison said it probably will take a few weeks to finish the job.

Bob Garrett reflected little concern as the steam swirled up from the sidewalk in front of his 43rd Street home. He paused to dip a brush back into a bucket of cleaning fluid and then applied elbow grease to some stubborn black blotches on his red tile patio.

“We watched the whole thing on TV,” he said, explaining that he decided to spend Friday night at a friend’s house, although police said people could return to their homes at about 9 p.m.

Despite the scrubbing duty, Garrett reacted calmly to the incident. “It hasn’t really been that big a problem,” he said, “although they haven’t got the gas back on yet. It’s just one of those episodes in life.”

At the most westerly point of Newport Bay, just north of 43rd Street, Crowley workers had erected a dam and were raking and sopping the sludge out of the water. Harris said it’s not known how many gallons of oil spilled into the water, but an estimated 420 gallons were spewed throughout the area. Coast Guard and Harbor Department officers assisted in controlling the oil’s spread in the bay.

Seeping Oil

Bill Gothard, a 46th Street resident, said the wells have caused problems for residents in the past, although there have been no explosions or fires. He said oil has occasionally seeped up through the sand in the area and one house became unlivable because the crude bubbled up through the floor boards.

Besides the oil problem, residents also face an occasional flood from waves and high tides, so they’re used to hazards, he added. He sympathized with the environmental workers, commenting: “I used to work in the oil fields in Long Beach and you just can’t get that stuff off. I wouldn’t want that job.”

As the rig was carefully maneuvered onto the back of a truck, Benny Moradilla reclined on the patio of a home adjacent to the work and perused Saturday’s sports page. “Hey, Benny, you gonna’ sit there?” called a co-worker. “You want to see tomorrow?”

Moradilla, who trucked in a 115-ton, $295-an-hour crane for the operation, expressed his lack of concern. “We’ve been on a lot of these; this is nothing.”

But the work attracted plenty of gawkers. Resident Doug Brenteson perched atop a wall on 44th Street, not far from his home, where he heard the explosion the evening before.

Says It’s No Big Deal

Although the oil had splattered his VW bus (for which he said the city should provide a new paint job), he said the incident is no big deal to residents. A few years ago, he stood in the same spot and watched boaters paddle down Balboa during a flood. “I saw one guy free-boarding it behind a four-by,” he said.

After the tower came down, the biggest headache for police was traffic in the area, which is “bad enough as it is” on a Saturday during the summer, said Armstrong. About 2 p.m., cars were backed up on Coast Highway to Prospect Street and to Industrial Way on Newport Boulevard.

Harris said about 250,000 people flock to Newport Beach on summer weekends. “Those who want to see the beach today should go to Huntington Beach,” he advised.

In the parking lot of a shopping center at Coast Highway and Balboa Boulevard, Lynn MacKay balanced a foot outside her car door and attempted to remove the oil from her sole with a paper towel soaked in nail polish remover. “I don’t think it’s ever going to come off,” she sighed between scrubbings.

In the Stop N Go market, black boot marks and footprints were darkening the floor. An employee laughed at the thought of a city-sponsored steam-cleaning. “Maybe we’ll get a free wax out of it,” he said.