Chevron refinery fire in El Segundo extinguished; investigation underway into cause

After an explosion and fire at a Chevron refinery in El Segundo on Thursday night, air quality is top of mind for many. Eyewitness News spoke with a pulmonologist on how to stay safe.

An explosion at a Chevron refinery in El Segundo sent smoke billowing into the sky and into surrounding neighborhoods. While the fire is under control now, questions remain about what's lingering in the air and what it could do to your lungs.

"Well, anytime there's a fire, whether it's through a refinery or whether it's a wildfire, there's particulates that get dispersed in the air, and those are the things people need to be worried about, inhaling those particulates," said St. Joseph pulmonologist Dr. Kia Nikoomanesh. "Particulate inhalation can lead to inflammation, and in specific populations of our pulmonary patients, that can lead to some issues."

Air quality readings spiked across the immediate area of the explosion on Thursday night, and although levels have started to drop, experts warn the health effects can last much longer, especially for those more vulnerable to the harmful particles.

"People that are usually at the highest risk, in terms of our pulmonary patients, are going to be asthmatics, patients with COPD, patients with immunocompromised states, so these are the patients that, when they inhale the particulates, their airways are very reactive already, so they become even more inflamed," Nikoomanesh said.

Inhaling chemicals like what was released from the refinery can trigger anything from coughing and wheezing, to chest tightness and long-term lung damage.

Dr. Nikoomanesh recommends staying indoors, wearing high-grade masks and staying updated on the air quality.

"Listen to the air quality control team, see what level of particulates are in the air. So that's the most important thing, to be educated in that. Once you kind of know about that, if the particulate levels are high, make sure that you're wearing a mask, make sure you're waring an N-95, if you start developing shortness of breath, you're coughing out of control, and you feel like you're getting worse, then it's probably a good time for you to go get checked out by a pulmonologist."

Chevron's Health Safety and Environmental team has continued conducting mobile air monitoring in the community.

At least four other fires have been reported at the El Segundo facility since 2016. No one was injured in those fires.

ABC7's 7 On Your Side Investigates team combed through documents to learn more about its safety and environmental records. Here's what we found.

We combed through documents to learn more about safety and environmental records of the Chevron refinery in El Segundo. Here's what we found.

There have been no Chevron employees seriously injured at the refinery since at least 2015, according to OSHA records. Fourteen Chevron employees have been injured at other facilities during that span, but none were in California.

OSHA records show the agency inspected the El Segundo complex 12 times since 2020. Four of those inspections resulted in 14 violations, which totaled $44,000 in OSHA fines. For a facility handling combustible chemicals, the figure is a low number.

The EPA inspected the facility in March. No violations were mentioned, and there have been no recent fines from the agency.

The impact of the fiery blast is going far past the South Bay. Here's how much experts anticipate gas prices will go up.

Crews extinguished a massive fire that erupted at a Chevron oil refinery in El Segundo, which sent up large flames and plumes of smoke into the air. Now, the impact of that fiery blast is going far past the South Bay.

The refinery produces about 20% of California's gasoline and 40% of its jet fuel.

According to a statement released by Chevron, the fire was contained to a southeast corner of the refinery unit, but it's still raising questions about how much drivers could be paying at the pump.

"This particular refinery, anytime it shuts down, it impacts prices all along the western coast of the United States, and even into places like Vancouver, British Columbia, other aspects in Canada," said Matt McClain from GasBuddy.com.

McClain says early estimates had the price per gallon jumping 30 to 90 cents more per gallon. But now that the damage to the refinery looks limited, the spike won't be nearly as steep.

"As long as the initial reports of the extent of the damage remains, it's actually a very positive thing for gasoline consumers," McClain said. "The impact is expected to be reduced back to just a nickel to 15 cents a gallon rise at this point at the local pump."

Still, for many drivers, even that feels like too much, especially when prices were already climbing before the fire.

With the small bump in gas prices, experts say there is no need to panic-buy, because that will just stress the demand.

The fire at the Chevron refinery in El Segundo has been contained, Chevron said on its website Friday.

The fire at the Chevron refinery in El Segundo has been contained, Chevron said on its website Friday.

Chevron added that it launched an internal investigation to figure out what caused the massive fire.

"All personnel and contractors have been accounted for, and no injuries have been reported. As a precautionary measure, Chevron's Health Safety and Environmental team has been conducting mobile air monitoring in the community," a statement read.

The fire started on Thursday night, sending a glow across Southern California. Residents in the surrounding communities of El Segundo and Manhattan Beach, residents were told to stay indoors.

The flames shot so high into the air, they were visible for miles around.

"I was looking north, and I still saw glows from the light. I turned around, looked south, and you could see the flames going up, probably 200, 300 feet in the sky. It was crazy," said Davond Dade, who lives nearby. "This one did feel different because it's closer to home, so it was a little nerve-racking."

"The house shook": Neighbors near the fire at an El Segundo Chevron refinery said the explosion rattled their homes, but this isn't the first fire they've seen at the facility.

The fire burned through the night, but was finally put out on Friday morning. No evacuations were ordered, and all refinery personnel and contractors are accounted for with no injuries.

The refinery is the largest oil-producing site on the West Coast. It covers roughly 1.5 square miles and can process nearly 300,000 barrels of crude oil a day.

It's unclear what caused the fire, which isn't the first fire at the facility.

"Cal/OSHA is on site on the lead right now. There's always an investigation whenever there is a mechanical issue, but we are dealing with combustible chemistries. Those are things that happen. But every time there's an issue, there's a really thorough investigation that goes into it. There's certainly a lot of capital improvement that goes into making it safer," said El Segundo Mayor Chris Pimentel.

Air quality is not an issue for those who live nearby, and because damage to the facility was limited, a big jump in the price of gas is not expected.

"It's looking at maybe a nickel to 15 cents, which is far better than what we were fearing just even an hour ago," said Matt McClain with GasBuddy.

There have been four fires at the Chevron refinery since 2016. The last one happened in 2022.

There are no reports of any damage to property away from the refinery.

"We did send updates via NIXEL to let people know what was happening, and we did send updates, especially about air quality, and again this morning with the school district, to let them know, 'Hey, we've got an all-clear. School will proceed and the roads will be open,'" Pimentel said.