Firefighters continued dousing a blaze Friday morning at a Chevron oil refinery in El Segundo, California, after a massive fire broke out the night before, lighting up the sky with flames visible for miles.
According to The Associated Press, officials urged residents to stay indoors, though by early Friday the city said the fire was contained and posed no threat to public safety. No evacuations were ordered.
“All roads have been reopened after last night’s Chevron fire,” the city of El Segundo posted Friday morning. “The fire is still burning but is contained at this time.”
The South Coast Air Quality Management District said overnight monitoring detected “elevated levels of volatile organic compounds” at the refinery’s fence line, though local air quality readings Friday morning showed no major concerns. Officials noted that drizzle, marine layers, and light winds were keeping the plume aloft but warned conditions could shift as winds pick up.
“The situation is evolving, and we continue to monitor it closely,” the agency said.
Residents described the scene as alarming. “Pretty much the whole sky was orange,” said Sam Daugherty, who lives 10 blocks away and told KABC-TV he began packing a bag in panic.
Chevron said all personnel were accounted for and there were no injuries. A monitoring system showed the fire did not spread beyond the refinery fence line, though the company did not specify the cause.
LA County Supervisor Holly Mitchell told KCAL-TV the blaze had been contained to one section of the facility. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office said it was monitoring the situation and coordinating with state and local officials.
El Segundo, a beachside city about a mile south of Los Angeles International Airport, lifted a shelter-in-place order for nearby Manhattan Beach. LA Mayor Karen Bass wrote on X that there was “no known impact to the airport” and added, “LAFD stands at the ready to assist with any mutual aid request.”
Beaches remained open Friday, with crews reporting little to no ash. Chevron has deployed health, safety, and environmental teams to monitor air quality in surrounding communities.
The El Segundo refinery spans roughly 1.5 square miles, contains over 1,100 miles of pipelines, and processes up to 290,000 barrels of crude oil daily, including gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel. The facility has operated since 1911 and has experienced multiple fires in the past decade.
A 2017 fire threatened storage tanks but was quickly controlled, and a 2022 fire also forced an emergency response. In 2012, Chevron was fined nearly $1 million after a major fire at its San Francisco Bay Area refinery.
