LOS ANGELES

Buildings sprayed with oil after pipeline valve failure

A geyser of oil sprayed onto buildings and puddled in knee-high pools of crude in the streets after a valve on a high-pressure pipeline failed Thursday.

About 10,000 gallons of oil spewed 20 feet high over half a mile of the industrial area of Atwater Village about 12:15 a.m., Fire Capt. Jaime Moore said.

Four commercial businesses near the border of Glendale were affected, as well as a strip club that was evacuated after oil came through air vents. Patrons and employees were forced to leave behind their crude-coated cars.

Crews were able to remotely shut off the 20-inch line after about 45 minutes. Determining exactly what caused the failure will take some time, Moore said.

Advertisement

LITTLE ROCK, Ark.

Judge revises court order allowing gay marriages

Gay marriages quickly resumed in Arkansas on Thursday after a state judge whose previous order had sown confusion among county clerks expanded his ruling to remove all vestiges of same-sex marriage bans from the state’s laws.

The Arkansas Supreme Court said Wednesday that a law that kept clerks from issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples remained on the books, despite the ruling last week by Pulaski County Circuit Judge Chris Piazza that declared gay marriage bans unconstitutional.

Piazza revised his order Thursday, saying no one in the state was harmed by the 456 marriage licenses issued to same-sex couples until the Supreme Court ruled. He rejected the state’s request to put his decision on hold, saying gay couples would be harmed.

SAN MARCOS, Calif.

Advertisement

Firefighters make progress but blaze proves stubborn

Firefighters aided by calmer winds made progress Thursday against wildfires burning across San Diego County, and authorities collected clues and solicited the public’s help to determine what caused so many blazes to occur simultaneously.

While some of the nine fires were extinguished and thousands of people returned to their homes, the San Marcos blaze roared back in the afternoon. Flames raced along scrubby hillsides as massive black plumes filled the skies.

Smoke limited visibility to a few feet at times. Sheriff Bill Gore said the flare-up prompted more than 13,000 new evacuation notices and served as a “reminder to everybody just how volatile this can be.”

Firefighters who have worked in temperatures sometimes topping 100 degrees this week were expected to get relief Friday. The forecast called for temperatures to peak around 90 and lighter winds.

– From news service reports


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.