California Governor Jerry Brown on Wednesday declared a Los Angeles-area gas leak an emergency and vowed to protect public health and safety.

The governor’s office said in a statement it was establishing an incident command structure to coordinate local, state and federal response to the leak and stop it as soon as possible.

The methane leak was discovered on Oct. 23 at a well used for gas storage in Aliso Canyon just outside the Los Angeles neighborhood of Porter Ranch, and has forced thousands of residents to relocate.