ARVIN, CA - Cleanup began Friday in the backyards of eight evacuated homes in Arvin, but the county said it will still be days before anyone can return home.
Officials said this is a quick response, eight days since the leak was first reported and there are ventilators in about half of the backyards.
Digging a hole six feet deep, workers at Advanced GeoEnvironmental installed ventilators in the backyards of eight homes in Arvin hoping to suck residual methane-based gas out of the soil.
"If we were just to let the normal process of evaporation go it could take much longer and the people would be out of home a long time," said Chris Hoover of the Kern County Fire Department.
The issue started last Wednesday, when the county discovered a leaky waste gas line from a nearby oil field bordering the neighborhood.
Seeping water and gas into the ground, it killed nearby vegetation and filled homes and backyards with explosive gas, forcing evacuations of 13 residents. On Friday, all of those residents' homes were getting ventilators.
"Basically has a fan that is going to be drawing a negative pressure out of the ground so it basically sucks the air out of the vapors out of the ground," said Hoover.
But, this is only a temporary fix. Advanced GeoEnvironmental has also been contracted to vent the soil long-term.
"I'm just happy they are finally working on stuff to get people back into their houses," said Alejandro Morales, a nearby resident.
However, the county says they're not expecting residents to return anytime soon.
"It's going to be wait and see. We'd like to tell them Tuesday. We'd like to tell them Wednesday," said Hoover.
But it's not up to them, it's up to readings from monitors that are expected to test levels at the earliest next Monday.
Petro Capital Resources, the owner of the leak line, is paying for all cleanup and residents' relocation expenses.
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Leaky pipeline cleanup begins in Arvin
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