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CASTAIC, Calif. () — SoCalGas crews continued repairs on a ruptured natural gas pipeline in Castaic on Monday. The pipeline broke near the 5 Freeway on Saturday, shutting it down for hours in both directions.
SoCalGas said crews safely isolated the damaged section of pipeline, stopping the leak.
Those living near the pipeline say they could smell gas in the air, and nearly 15,000 people were told to shelter in place for their safety.
Some have expressed concern about the potential health impact.
Witnesses near the ruptured gas line in Castaic described it as a massive boom and a rush of air.
SEE ALSO: Significant land movement likely caused Castaic gas line break, SoCalGas says
“I heard a loud bang as if a plane broke out of the sky, like a 747,” Philip Emokpare said.
Emokpare lives a mile away, but the raw egg smell of gas carried as far away as Granada Hills, Porter Ranch and Sylmar.
“Literally, I had to start running back home. That’s when I started smelling a huge amount of gas in the air,” he said.
Doctors say methane, the primary gas ingredient, is odorless. What people smell are chemical additives designed to warn people of the presence of gas.
“The main gas, methane, would not cause health effects, and health effects are really from what you’re smelling,” said Dr. Gabriel Campion.
Campion is an Emergency medicine physician with Dignity Health Northridge Hospital.
He says what happened in Castaic is unlike the 2015 Aliso Canyon gas leak that exposed residents for four months. This can cause nausea, respiratory distress and headaches.
“This short gas leak where it’s outside, it was loud and, you know, it was smelly, but it was something where, fortunately, it’s not really going to be harmful for people,” Campion said.
It’s not ideal for that much methane to be released into the atmosphere, but Campion says any health effects should be short-lived. He understands how the explosion and the smell that followed can be unnerving.
“The smell of natural gas, the additive in it, can make people feel pretty unwell, feel pretty sick, but as soon as they get out of that area, they’ll start to feel better, and it doesn’t have any long-term effects,” Campion said.
Campion says a gas leak indoors is dangerous because it displaces oxygen. But, with the rupture happening outdoors in Castaic, any potential health effects should be minimized.
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