An explosion and hearth rocked a refinery in El Segundo on Thursday evening, sending up huge flames that might be seen for miles.
Town of El Segundo mentioned that there was a hearth on the Chevron refinery however that there was no public menace or evacuation orders. Shelter-in-place orders had been in impact for parts of north Manhattan Seaside till 2 a.m.
Movies taken when the explosion occurred round 9:30 p.m. confirmed an enormous fireball erupt amid a loud, prolonged roar. However over the following hour, the blaze died down significantly and the skies largely cleared whereas vibrant, robust flames continued to burn close to the southern portion of Chevron’s plant.
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Shortly earlier than 10:30 p.m., Los Angeles County Supervisor Holly Mitchell advised KCAL-TV that the fireplace had been largely contained. She mentioned there have been no quick studies of damage and “no trigger for alarm for the encircling space.” She famous that officers could be monitoring air high quality situations and suggested residents within the quick space to stay indoors if attainable.
El Segundo Mayor Chris Pimentel advised KCAL that the fireplace by no means prolonged past the refinery grounds and that every one personnel had been accounted for. The reason for the fireplace remained unclear, he added.
The plumes of smoke had been seen within the El Segundo and South Bay areas, and hearth personnel had been on scene taking pictures streams of water on the hearth. The refinery has its personal hearth division and different regional companies assisted within the response.
In north Redondo Seaside, smoke billowed throughout the orange sky.
An aerial view of the Chevron Refinery hearth in El Segundo Thursday evening.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Instances)
Julian Reese, 13, mentioned he and his dad felt a serious blast after which ran outdoors, seeing flames fill the sky.
At Aviation Park, just some miles from the Chevron plant, Mark Rogers was taking part in in his weekly grownup soccer league when the obvious explosion happened.
“I assumed we obtained nuked or one thing,” mentioned Rogers, 34. The referee ended up canceling their sport minutes after it began because of the heavy smoke.
Keith Mohr, 53, lives simply south of the refinery in Manhattan Seaside. After he felt the blast, he advised his spouse to seize their canines and head to the automobile. They returned dwelling as soon as officers mentioned there was no public security menace.
“This was 300-foot flames,” mentioned Mohr, noting that he’s lived by the refinery for greater than 20 years and had by no means seen something just like the inferno. “I didn’t know if a airplane crashed or there was an earthquake or each.”
Visitors was diverted away from the scene whereas highway closures had been put in place alongside Rosecrans Avenue from Vista Del Mar to Pacific Coast Freeway and alongside Pacific Coast Freeway from Rosecrans Avenue to El Segundo Boulevard.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and Gov. Gavin Newsom had been each briefed on the incident Thursday evening. Bass mentioned there was no recognized impression to Los Angeles Worldwide Airport in a assertion on X. The governor’s workplace mentioned it was coordinating with native and state companies to guard the encircling neighborhood and guarantee public security, in response to a assertion on X.
Refinery fires are a part of life within the South Bay, which is dwelling to a number of main oil manufacturing services.
In 2022, it took firefighters two hours to place out a hearth on the El Segundo facility. In 2020, a hearth on the Marathon Petroleum refinery in Carson despatched flames not less than 100 toes into the air and sparked hours of concern. However the hearth was ultimately put underneath management and it did little main injury to refinery operations.
This can be a growing story and might be up to date.
