Gas leak leads to evacuation in Downey

A technical glitch causes an emergency alert to go out to more people than intended.

A natural gas leak after a contractor cut a gas main in a residential area in Downey prompted a small evacuation that was expected to continue overnight, authorities said.

Downey’s fire and police departments arrived at the intersection of Stewart and Gray Road and Rives Avenue at 10:32 a.m., said Tracy Gonzales, the Fire Department’s supervisor of communications.

Southern California Gas Co. workers responded shortly after and stopped the flow of gas from the severed 6-inch main line.

At 3 p.m., the gas company estimated it would take four hours to cap the leak, said Juddy Montenegro, the city of Downey’s public information officer. At about 8:30 p.m., fire officials said repairs would take another eight hours.

Police secured the area and road closures were in place on Stewart and Gray Road from Paramount Boulevard to Rives Avenue.

A 300-foot evacuation zone was set up around the leak. Montenegro said about 40 households were affected by the evacuation orders.

No injuries were reported, but the department was providing shelter for those evacuated to shield them from the light rain, Gonzales said.

An emergency alert was issued about 12:35 p.m., notifying L.A. County residents to avoid the area.

Montenegro said the city was “testing a new system” but the alert was only intended for residents near the area.

“Unfortunately, it went out to more people,” she said.

Michael Jerrett, a professor of environmental health sciences at UCLA’s Fielding School of Public Health, said that the short duration of the evacuation order and the size of the evacuation zone signaled that there wouldn’t be a high-concentration of air toxins that could endanger returning residents.

But he did advise that residents open up their windows to increase the airflow in their homes.

“I wouldn’t be concerned about going back to my own house if it was the same circumstances,” he said.

Southern California Gas was responsible for the largest gas leak in U.S. history in 2015, at the Aliso Canyon storage field in the San Fernando Valley.

Clean-energy advocates and members of the nearby Porter Ranch community, who reported nosebleeds, headaches and other symptoms during the monthslong leak, have continued to call for the facility’s closure.

More recently, the Los Angeles City Council unanimously passed a resolution urging state officials to shut down another Southern California Gas storage field, on the city’s Westside.

The Playa del Rey facility has a long history of leaks, although nothing as bad as the Aliso Canyon blowout.

Natural gas is one of the main fossil fuels driving the climate crisis.

It’s used for about onethird of California’s electricity generation and most of the state’s space and water heating.

A growing number of cities have banned or discouraged gas hookups in new housing.