A big fire broke out Thursday night time at a Chevron refinery, in El Segundo, the largest oil-producing facility on the West Coast, officers mentioned.
The fire turned the darkish night time sky orange within the space surrounding the refinery, with towering flames and billowing plumes of smoke seen from afar, photographs posted on social media confirmed and witnesses recalled.
The fire, which is burning about 20 miles south of downtown Los Angeles, has since been contained and no evacuation orders for space residents are in place, the City of El Segundo, mentioned in an internet assertion. Additionally, there have been no accidents or speedy hazards to surrounding areas, El Segundo Fire Department Division Chief Casey Snow advised NCS.
“I’ve never seen anything like it in my entire life … and it was horrifying,” Howard Thorne, an El Segundo resident advised NCS affiliate KABC.
Fire crews arrived at 9:30 p.m. and had been capable of comprise the flames to at least one part of the refinery. Hours later, at least one tank at the refinery was nonetheless burning, Snow mentioned.
Keith Moore, who lives simply south of the fire in Manhattan Beach, mentioned he was at dwelling along with his household watching TV at the time.
“It was super scary,” Moore advised KABC. “All of a sudden it kind of sounded like … plane engines, like almost a plane about to crash, and then a big whoosh and the curtains all flipped up because the windows were slightly open.”
“(It) almost felt like an earthquake because the house shook,” Moore mentioned. “So we didn’t know what was going on.”
The fire isn’t in a location that poses an instantaneous danger to air high quality for close by residents, however the full impression of the incident stays unclear, he added.
The fire originated within the southeast nook of the refinery, the City of El Segundo mentioned.
A Chevron spokesperson advised NCS the refinery’s fire division and native authorities responded to an “isolated fire” inside the power, and all personnel are protected and accounted for. A monitoring system at the refinery signifies the fire didn’t go previous the power’s fence line, the spokesperson mentioned.
Moore mentioned the sky-high flames had been about 400 yards from his home, so he and his household packed up their canines and headed south “just to get out of harm’s way.”
“The whole sky was lit up,” Moore mentioned. “It was like a really, really – brighter than the moon on a really bright day.”
While the fire raged, officials urged residents within the space to remain indoors.
A shelter-in-place order was issued for components of Manhattan Beach, situated about two miles southwest of El Segundo, however was lifted shortly after 1 a.m., in accordance with an emergency notification from town.
Pacific Coast Highway, which previously saw forced closures earlier this yr as a result of Palisades Fire, reopened Friday morning after the Chevron fire briefly closed components of the 11- mile roadway, in accordance with the City of El Segundo
At the time of the fire, onshore winds from the west-southwest at close by Los Angeles International Airport had been blowing 10 to fifteen mph, carrying smoke east. Winds have decreased to five mph or much less, however are anticipated to extend once more all through the day, reaching 15 to twenty mph out of the west-southwest, with gusts as much as 25 mph attainable.
Most surrounding air high quality displays nonetheless reported “Good” circumstances, although particle ranges briefly spiked at a number of stations simply east of El Segundo. As of Friday morning, the air quality in El Segundo was nonetheless listed in “Good” situation.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and California Gov. Gavin Newsom have each been briefed on the fire.
“LAFD stands at the ready to assist with any mutual aid request,” Bass wrote on X. “There is no known impact to LAX at this time.”
Meanwhile, Newsom mentioned his “office is coordinating in real time with local and state agencies to protect the surrounding community and ensure public safety.”
Flights at Los Angeles International Airport weren’t impacted by the fire, a spokesperson for the airport advised NCS.
El Segundo Mayor Chris Pimentel advised KCAL town’s fire station is just 1 / 4 mile from the refinery, so crews had been capable of reply “immediately.”
“Obviously, we are very concerned, and there is a lot of investigative work to be done to see what has happened,” the mayor mentioned.
The El Segundo refinery, in-built 1911, processes 276,000 barrels of crude oil day by day, the corporate mentioned on its website.
This story has been up to date with extra data.