Massive fire breaks out at Chevron refinery near Los Angeles

By Hanna Park, CNN

(CNN) — A large fire broke out Thursday night at a Chevron refinery in El Segundo, a city south of Los Angeles, officials said.

The fire turned the night sky orange in the area surrounding the refinery, with towering flames and plumes of smoke visible from afar, images posted on social media showed.

Fire crews arrived at 9:30 p.m. and were able to contain the flames to one section of the refinery, El Segundo Fire Department Division Chief Casey Snow told CNN. Hours later, at least one tank at the refinery was still burning, Snow said.

“We’re applying water to it – to the gasoline and diesel fuel that’s burning … We’re working on cooling everything until fuel burns itself out,” Snow said.

There were no injuries or immediate hazards to the surrounding areas, Snow said. The fire is not in a location that poses an immediate risk to air quality for nearby residents, but the full impact of the incident remains unclear, he added.

A Chevron spokesperson told CNN the refinery’s fire department and local authorities responded to an “isolated fire” inside the facility, and all personnel are safe and accounted for. A monitoring system at the refinery indicates the fire did not go past the facility’s fence line, the spokesperson said.

While the fire raged, officials urged residents in the area to stay indoors.

A shelter-in-place order was issued for parts of Manhattan Beach, located about two miles southwest of El Segundo, but was lifted shortly after 1 a.m., according to an emergency notification from the city.

At the time of the fire, onshore winds from the west-southwest at nearby Los Angeles International Airport were blowing 10 to 15 mph, carrying smoke east. Most surrounding air quality monitors still reported “Good” conditions, though particle levels briefly spiked at a few stations just east of El Segundo.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and California Gov. Gavin Newsom have both been briefed on the fire.

Flights at Los Angeles International Airport were not impacted by the fire, a spokesperson for the airport told CNN.

El Segundo Mayor Chris Pimentel told CNN affiliate KCAL/KCBS the city’s fire station is only a quarter mile from the refinery, so crews were able to respond “immediately.”

“Obviously, we are very concerned, and there is a lot of investigative work to be done to see what has happened,” the mayor said.

The El Segundo refinery, built in 1911, is the largest oil-producing facility on the West Coast, according to Chevron’s website. The refinery processes 276,000 barrels of crude oil daily, the company said.

This story has been updated with additional information.

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CNN’s Diego Mendoza and CNN Meteorologist Briana Waxman contributed to this report.