Fly-Over Planned to Find Source of Beach Tar Balls

Nearly all the South Bay shoreline was closed today and a cleanup effort was underway, a day after an unidentified tar-like substance began washing ashore.

• Oil Washes Ashore, Triggering Manhattan Beach Closure

The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health initially posted closure signs from 34th Street south to Longfellow Avenue in Hermosa Beach Wednesday. This was later updated to include the stretch from El Segundo Jetty in the north to the Redondo Beach city limit in the south.

At a briefing this morning, authorities released a telephone number -- (877) 623-6926 -- that people should call to report the location of any wildlife found to be in distress from the effects of the substance.

Authorities warned the public not to go into the ocean, or to use the beaches “from the lifeguard towers to the waterline.” The beaches from the lifeguard towers to the inland side were OK for the public to use, however, officials said.

Officials planned flyovers in the area this morning to help determine the source of the substance.

The unknown substance began hitting the beach about 10 a.m. Wednesday, according to the county. The U.S. Coast Guard and other agencies collected samples of the material and were trying to identify the substance and its source. The test results were pending.

A company known as Ocean Blue Environmental was hired to clean up the mess.

Public Health officials told residents to avoid contact with the water, wet sand or any material that washed up in the area, warning that contact with oil can cause skin irritation and result in long-term health problems. Beach- goers were advised to avoid the area until the contaminated area has been cleaned.

The environmental group Heal the Bay announced it had two scientists on scene -- Sarah Sikich and Jose Bacallao. They said it is too early to say if the material in Manhattan Beach might have a relationship with the oil spill on Refugio Beach near Santa Barbara. The short answer was possibly but unlikely.

The Manhattan Beach pollution appears to be a combination of “large clumps of oil and tar...The sand along the tideline is peppered with thousands of thick globs ranging in size from a baseball to a football.”

The Heal the Bay scientists say “it is simply too early to tell where the oil comes from ... from natural seepage or from an oil spill from a local refinery or a pipeline located nearby.”

There’s been no indication wildlife has been harmed.

Recorded information on beach conditions is available 24 hours a day on the county’s beach advisory hotline by calling (800) 525-5662 or online at http://www.publichealth.lacounty.gov/beach/.

--City News Service; Image via Los Angeles County Lifeguards

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