Document QbZqVXOqnydnOMpm21oM87Nk

G San Jose, CA (Santa Clara Co.) Mercury (D. 164,510) C /: .... jr - San Mateo, CA ,;f- (San Mateo Co.) A Times S' (Cir. 6xW. 49,793) SEP 1983 <Jlllen 'a p. c. b mr.i.:ilrirsrtr.-, 18SS SEP 8'? 1983 Mm. P. C. B F.st. 1888 m .^PACIFICA --PA 12,000-volt power, transformer belonging to Pacific Gas and Electric Co. ruptured ' .Tuesday m Paeifte^lleleasing black smoke as well as ; ; the susbcfcted (cakcindgen polychlorinated biphenyls, [i accordirtg to VP8^fpokeswoix(a^0f^^sS^^ Roberta-Palm of PG&E said the spill occurred about :12:30 p.m.! wheh a transformer atop a ' power pole iriv'the 1500 block of Linda, Mar Boulevard ,;;fp1(x,ed:|`:i/ Jean Foster, a resident on Linda Mar, said she | called PG&E at about 11:20 a.m., when the elevated; transformer started "arcing and puffing and smok-' png.",.?v^ (pfi Foster said it took a little more than an hour for ft PG&E to. respond to her call. A utility ^'inspector ' .arrived at 12:30 p.m., just in time for the final explo sion, which Foster said released so much smoke that it : 5"cpmpletely obliterated my vision". Of houses across '; the street.v. ' igg-'PG&E crews irnmediately cordoned off the area 'and began removing the transformer, according to Palm. Crews are performing mop-up operations, Palm said, including excavating a 12-foot square sec ! tion of soil in front of Foster's home toa depth of four f. inches, to rid the area of the .chamicaL^fe^K^^V' 'v it .! . r. 'Vi- tinues mw;-.y-w? . <;V;- stixiift iiMtf: By DAVE MADDEN '' "iff ..................... dcred safe for peopleVshe said. Af'A' -Jar vehicles that day, which could.have Times Staff Writer : r r Foster, however, said he was delayed the response, .r.^,. PACIFICA -- Cleanup of a spill through with that car, a 1970 Ford. PG&E ^spokeswcrman _Susarine of PCB-contaminated mineral oil from a blown PG&E electrical trans former on Linda Mar Boulevard was nearly complete today,' The.21-year-oId mechanic said if week. Some of the yard sod at the. inp'lfflrl tlwi nlm nna/4n/l /' C.inn.A klnn _______L_______M'ti claims adjustor'moving i up on the damage.......... . The oil showered dowh at 12:35 .iii .chrome;strips where,the PCB had m, ally added to the mineral ,pi| in' the p.m. Tuesday after a 12,000rkilovolt ..:..y..-..p. enetrate.d..,....v..... .............. X >' fc.; transformer,' Ms. Coffey said, but transformer overheated and ex- - He hadbought the car recently , had gotten into the transfomfefWhen ' ploded with what a neighbor said was with the idea of fixing it up and re- it was built when the mineral oil was the sound of several large pieces of 4fi5r--e--w-- -o- rk-s----g--o---i-n--g----o- -f--f--a---t--o---n--c--e- . - The polychlorinated biphenal, be lieved to be highly toxic to humans, filing it, but that idea appears to.be ; . dead rnmoiMw,.he ,s,aW id,I that he - was expecting a sometime this week to visit and make added through pipes whichlalso had been used to ,,ajdj d'nPCrnB t_o__c__a~pa7c.i_to_rs.; got on the yard of the William Sug- an offer for the car. . , _ rue Jr. home at 1559 Linda Mar, the This incident would not have hap- ; of PCB apparatus is for its capaci car of Stephen Foster, 1560 Linda pened at all had PG&E personnel tors, small boxes about the size pf an MMar, and .tthhAe npaavveemmeennt.r: &^fSW^Te'srpesoptnroodnudebedlde,ppraroocmmcopprttdlylyin;tjgtob ttthoheeMffirrirssst.t.aJaleelearrntt' ^'aeattntateacrchgheyecacanasdseefooonnr twthheheicpphoolelPesCswBwhhofidnihcl sestotworarees.' V The Foster car still needed some ^Foster, Stephen's mother.'il1 ^pp-considered the best coolant,-^Ke ex- ' cClleeaanniinngg aarroouunndd tthhee rruubbbbeerr w windion w. doMw rs. cFTM ositerr said she called nPrG.*&.En ' ~plTaine~da, . seals, but otherwise the cleanup went "Ifat 11:20 a.m; Tuesday when she saw The transformer is a lafgef,?barrel- well, according to PG&E spokes- smoke coming from the transformer, shaped device used to transform the woman Faith Kramer. '^V^v'lfr^^V^but that no one showed up until high voltage from the main line to V Chemical analysis Wednesday aft- ;|f;12:35 p.m., just in'time to see it -f lower voltages for household and ernoon showed less than 50 parts of explode and spill the PCB. business use. PCB per.million remaining in the Ms. Kramer said there had been , These are supposed to hVve no: contaminated area, a level consi- some trouble with radios in the field PCB at all in them, Ms. Coffey said. ;; PCB-ARCH-EXT0376176