Coast Guard, local authorities respond to chemical spill in the Port of Long Beach

The Coast Guard, Long Beach Fire Department and Patriot Environmental Services are responding to a reported spill of propyl acetate from the commercial container ship, Harbour Bridge, at Pier G Berth 232 in the Port of Long Beach, Sunday.

All Unified Command objectives, including clean-up and recovery operations on the vessel and the pier were completed Sunday night. The spill occurred when a tank, containing 6,600 gallons of propyl acetate was punctured during loading operations. The chemical was mostly contained on the pier, but some residual recovered material reached the water.

Twelve crewmembers from the Harbour Bridge were exposed to the product and one person was transported to Long Beach Memorial Medical Center. A member of the Long Beach Fire Department was transported to the same hospital due to a fall.

The Coast Guard Captain of the Port Long Beach-Los Angeles has established a safety zone 150 yards around the Harbour Bridge to facilitate spill assessment and response operations.

Long Beach Fire Department Hazardous Materials Team and Patriot Environmental Services are actively cleaning up the spill and are working with the Coast Guard to conduct safe clean-up operations.

Coast Guard Sector Los Angeles-Long Beach watchstanders received the initial report at approximately 9:46 a.m., Sunday.

Local and federal officials are on scene investigating the spill to determine the cause and are monitoring the cleanup efforts.