A natural gas line rupture in Castaic prompted the closure of the 5 Freeway for nearly four hours Saturday while area residents were ordered to shelter in place.
As fire and hazmat crews worked to seal the leak from a 34-inch Southern California Gas Company transmission pipeline, the smell of rotten eggs crept across large swaths of the Santa Clarita and San Fernando valleys.
There were no injuries reported in the incident, said Los Angeles County Fire Capt. Brian Kight.
The fire department received multiple reports of the explosion around 4:20 p.m. near Ridge Route Road and Pine Crest Place, just south of Northlake Hills Elementary School.
Videos posted to social media showed orange plumes rising from a hillside that appeared to have partially collapsed.
SoCalGas has not yet determined a cause of the break, a spokesperson said in a statement, but noted that significant land movement had been observed near the rupture.
Multiple callers told ABC 7 Eyewitness News they heard loud booms in the Castaic area. Others likened the sound to a roaring jet engine.
A strong smell of gas quickly reached L.A. County Fire Department Station 149, a mile down the road. The Los Angeles Fire Department had multiple residents many miles away in the north San Fernando Valley report a smell of rotten eggs.
The LAFD said the leak posed no immediate threat to the city. The County Fire Department said the odor is not harmful, and that County hazmat personnel were monitoring the air quality.
The CHP closed all lanes of the 5 Freeway near Castaic from roughly 5 p.m. to 9 p.m., and diverted all northbound traffic to State Route 126, while all southbound traffic was sent to State Route 138.
During the closure, traffic along the 5 and SR-138 was reduced to a near standstill for miles, leaving motorists stuck for hours.
Some motorists traveling during the holiday weekend resorted to water bottles and Styrofoam cups to relieve themselves — which they promptly tossed out the door. Others darted into nearby shrubs for a bit of privacy.
A gas line ruptured near Northlake Hills Elementary, in Castaic, on Saturday,
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The shelter in place orders, issued at 5:40 p.m., spanned roughly 15 square miles of Castaic and advises residents to close all doors, windows and vents, and shut off HVAC systems.
After SoCalGas shut off both sides of the broken gas line, a hazmat task force worked with SoCalGas crews and firefighters to contain residual leaks.
The shelter in place orders were lifted around 9:50 p.m.
SoCalGas received no reports of residential natural gas customers experiencing outages due to the rupture, the spokesperson said.
This story originally appeared on LA Times
