Local News in Brief : Industrial Glue Washed Into Drain in Burbank

At least 25 gallons of an industrial glue from a Burbank construction site was dumped into the city’s drainage system and made its way to the Los Angeles River flood control channel, authorities said Wednesday.

The spill was reported to police and the Fire Department at 8 a.m. Wednesday when firefighters exercising in Buena Vista Park in the 400 block of Bob Hope Drive noticed a milky-white substance flowing in a creek that drains into the channel.

Firefighters and officials from the Los Angeles County heath and flood control departments arrived and used vacuum trucks to remove the substance from the creek throughout the day, said Battalion Chief Ken Whittekiend.

Flood control inspectors traced the flow to a construction project at 3900 Alameda Ave., Whittekiend said. The substance was identified as a nontoxic polyvinyl acetate used to glue insulation at the 32-story project, officials said.

Authorities said a contracting crew on the project had spilled about 25 gallons of the substance, then washed it into a drain.

City officials said late Wednesday that they had not located the contractor responsible. But they said the company will be cited with illegally dumping the material and will pay the cost of the cleanup.