West Valley : Gas Leaks at 2 Sites Spur Evacuations

About 40 West Valley residents had to be evacuated from their homes in Tarzana and Woodland Hills on Monday morning after construction crews ruptured two separate natural-gas lines, city fire officials said.

The first incident occurred about 7:50 a.m. at 23319 Leonora Drive in Woodland Hills, where the Valley Circle Boulevard interchange of the Ventura Freeway is undergoing reconstruction. Apparently, a backhoe operator working in the street severed a three-inch-wide underground gas distribution line, said Cathy Maguire, a Southern California Gas Co. spokeswoman.

Although gas spewed from the rupture for about two hours before repair crews closed the flow, no injuries were reported. Three people living in two adjacent houses were evacuated as a precaution, and 45 homes were left without gas for much of the day. Freeway traffic was unaffected.

In the second incident, firefighters evacuated a 71-unit apartment building at 5546 Lindley Ave. in Tarzana after discovering gas seeping near a curb in front of the structure at 8:37 a.m., officials said. The source of the leak in front of the Encino Gardens apartments turned out to be a 30-inch transmission line that cracked as a city transportation crew repaired a bus stop on the street above, Maguire said.

No fires erupted from the leak, but the Fire Department barred traffic from the intersection of Lindley with Burbank Boulevard for 4 1/2 hours as gas company crews worked to identify the exact location of the crack and make the repairs.