Giant blaze breaks out at Chevron refinery near Los Angeles

LOS ANGELES – An oil refinery in Southern California erupted in a fireball the night of Oct. 2, sending giant out giant flames visible across the Los Angeles basin, officials said.

The fire was first spotted at about 9:32 p.m. local time at the Chevron refinery in El Segundo, located about 20 miles southwest of downtown Los Angeles, the El Segundo Police Department told USA TODAY. Multiple fire departments worked to suppress the blaze, and no injuries were reported, authorities said.

A giant plume of smoke rose from the refinery and more smoke poured out of flare stacks as fire crews worked to douse the flames using ladders and firetrucks, photos from the scene show. Onlookers watching the effort took photos of the flames from miles away near Los Angeles International Airport.

“There is no call to evacuate residences or businesses in the city of El Segundo at this time,” police said, adding that the fire was later contained. Nearby roads and highways were closed to allow fire crews access to the area.

Cause of huge fire not yet clear

A Chevron spokesperson told USA TODAY that its fire department personnel, including emergency crews from the city of El Segundo and Manhattan Beach, responded to the refinery blaze.

“All refinery personnel and contractors have been accounted for and there are no injuries,” Chevron said in a statement. “No evacuation orders for area residents have been put in place by emergency response agencies monitoring the incident, and no exceedances have been detected by the facilities fence line monitoring system.”

USA TODAY reached out to the El Segundo Fire Department for comment. The cause of the fire remains unclear.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass were briefed on the incident. The governor’s office said on X that it was coordinating with local and state agencies to protect the surrounding community and ensure public safety.

Bass said on social media that there was no known impact to the Los Angeles International Airport.

The El Segundo facility was built in 1911 and is the largest producing oil refinery on the West Coast, according to Chevron. The refinery processes more than 276,000 barrels of crude per day.

‘I thought we got nuked or something’

Mark Rogers told the Los Angeles Times that he was playing in his weekly adult soccer league at a park a few miles away from the Chevron refinery. The game was cancelled minutes after it started due to the smoke caused by the fire.

“I thought we got nuked or something,” said Rogers, the newspaper reported.

Keith Mohr, of Manhattan Beach, told the Times that he has lived by the Chevron refinery for more than two decades. After he felt a blast, Mohr instructed his wife to grab their dogs and head to the car.

“This was 300-foot flames,” said Mohr, the news organization reported. “I didn’t know if a plane crashed or there was an earthquake or both.”