Toxic Gas Leak Stops Traffic

A toxic gas leak at a Carson chemical plant Saturday morning halted nearby traffic and almost led to the evacuation of a one-square-mile area containing an oil refinery and homes.

The leak at the Stauffer Chemical Co. at 20720 Wilmington Ave. occurred hours after a fire there damaged a building housing two tanks filled with sulfur trioxide.

The sulfur trioxide, which forms sulfuric acid when released into the air, leaked from a pipe on a tank inside the storage building where a wooden roof burned late Friday afternoon. The Los Angeles County Fire Department said the pipe could have been damaged in the fire. Stauffer spokeswoman Marsha Cummings said the company is investigating to determine if the fire and the leak of the gas--which irritates the eyes, nose and throat--were related.

Fire officials said a sulfuric acid cloud formed over the Stauffer plant shortly before 7 a.m. Saturday. Preparations were made to evacuate the adjacent Shell Oil Co. refinery and about 100 homes north of Del Amo Blvd., but Stauffer crews clamped the leaking pipe and the cloud dissipated before anyone was moved out.

Wilmington Avenue and Dominguez Street near the chemical plant were closed off and traffic was diverted. The leak was stopped by 10:30 a.m. and street traffic resumed at 1:30 p.m.

The roof fire at the chemical plant broke out at 4:18 p.m. Friday and took two hours to extinguish, according to the Fire Department.