A gas pipe rupture caused 14,200 people to shelter in place near north Ridge Route Road and Pinecrest Place in Castaic on Saturday evening, according to officials with the Los Angeles County Fire Department.
Initial reports of the incident described it as a gas pipe explosion, but after Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station deputies did their investigations, the description was changed to a rupture, according to officials with the station.
Ridge Route Road is still closed as of Sunday morning while Southern California Gas Co. personnel inspect the area’s roads and pipes because the ground had shifted during the rupture, according to Detective Charlie Upchurch with the SCV Sheriff’s Station.
The freeways are all open, Upchurch added.
Upchurch said that the gas pipes’ natural pressures sheared off and caused the dirt, debris, and gases to escape.
There are minor amounts of gases lingering and still dissipating as of the publication of this story, according to Capt. Brian Kight with the Fire Department.
Kight said that the area is completely safe for people to be outside, calling the amounts within “survival limits.”
