Tar balls wash ashore on Dauphin Island

DAUPHIN ISLAND, Ala. (WALA) - Folks were on Dauphin Island beach Saturday hoping to enjoy the sun and water ahead of the threatening oil slick in the gulf, but they found something they weren't expecting, at least not so soon.

"He came across large amounts of tar and a dead bird. So he brought some back and showed it to the police, and within about a minute there were oil response people here," Molly Hunter said.

Hunter's father-in-law was one of the first to report the oily tar.

Lisa Turner was in the water when she stepped on some of the tar. It ended up on her feet and hands.

"He just told me to come up here as soon as I could, I needed to get up here so they could get it off of me," Turner said.

Emergency response teams were brought in to the start the clean up.

Richard Pinegar is with Dauphin Island Fire and Rescue. He said the tar is formed as the crude oil moves through the gulf waters.

"The lighter liquid evaporates out of it, and the more solid parts, they congeal, and it makes a real nasty ball of tar, and if it gets on you it doesn't want to come off," Pinegar said.

That's a lesson Charles Dawson learned the hard way.

"Don't touch it, because it gets on your hands, and it's like roofing tar. It's just like roofing tar," Dawson said.

No decision has been made to close the public beach.