Methane Gas Crisis Ends, Fairfax Businesses to Reopen

The two-day methane gas emergency that shut down 50 businesses in the Fairfax District ended Thursday when flammable gas readings in the area dropped to zero, ending the danger of a potentially devastating explosion, Fire Department officials said.

By early afternoon, a 1-mile stretch of 3rd Street was reopened and most stores began preparations to resume normal business this morning.

“It’s about time,” grumbled shopper Alva Hernandez, eager to buy a Valentine’s Day card at a shop closed by dangerous gas leaks that were discovered Tuesday in the basement of two stores near Farmers Market. “I need to buy my sweetie a card.”

A similar gas leak in March, 1985, in the basement of the Ross Dress for Less store was ignited, causing a powerful explosion that leveled the store, damaged other structures and injured 21 people.

At that time, the area was closed for nearly five days while a 4-inch vent was put into the Ross store’s parking lot to relieve the gas pressure. The gas pockets are the remnants of old petroleum and natural gas fields drilled in the area from the 1900s to the 1960s.

The readings early Thursday dropped after work crews from a Long Beach-based drilling firm, Well-Tech Inc., drilled 70 feet through the vent to extract rainwater that was believed to have trapped the methane gas, forcing it to seep into the basements of the Ross and K-mart stores.

An estimated 300 gallons of rainwater were bailed out, according to Well-Tech officials. After that, the 100% flammable readings in five testing areas dropped to zero.

“This was a pretty routine operation,” said Well-Tech rig supervisor Jim Dougherty. “We also cleaned out a little sludge (from the vent), but not much.”

Fire officials had feared that large amounts of debris had accumulated in the vent, contributing to the leaks that prompted the evacuations Tuesday morning.