LOS ANGELES — A large fire was reported Thursday night at a Los Angeles-area oil refinery, prompting a response by first responders, according to officials and video that captured the scene.
Helicopter footage from NBC Los Angeles showed flames coming from two of the stacks and one other area at the Chevron refinery in El Segundo.
The fire was seen at the refinery around 9:32 p.m., El Segundo police said. It said there was no call for residents to evacuate, and the fire was later contained.
It was not clear if there were any injuries. Chevron did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Manhattan Beach, a neighboring coastal city in Los Angeles County, told residents that it was aware of the “unusual fire event” at the Chevron refinery, but that there was no evacuation order. The city told residents to stay inside.
Video captured on social media showed a fireball appearing to erupt from the facility, and flames that lit up the horizon.
“I saw this thing just go up,” Howard Thorne, a resident of El Segundo for the last eight years, told NBC Los Angeles. “I never, ever fear anything. This — I got in panic mode when I saw it. I was literally in panic mode.”
The oil refinery covers around 1,000 acres and has around 1,100 miles of pipelines, according to the facility’s website. It primarily refines gasoline, jet and diesel and can refine up to 290,000 barrels of crude oil per day, according to the site.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom has been briefed on the situation, his office said on X.
“Our office is coordinating in real time with local and state agencies to protect the surrounding community and ensure public safety,” the governor’s office said.
By 11 p.m. helicopter footage from NBC Los Angeles showed firefighters working to douse a plume of flame by spraying from ladder trucks in one part of the facility, while two of the stacks also had flames coming from their tops.
Jean Lee, Matthew Mulligan, Bill Feather, Todd Miyazawa and Josh Cradduck contributed.
