A fire broke out at a Chevron oil refinery just outside Los Angeles on Thursday night, sending towering flames into the air that were visible for miles.
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Officials in El Segundo, California, urged people to stay indoors. By early Friday, the fire was contained and there was no threat to public safety, the city said in a statement. No evacuations had been ordered.
“There is still an active fire and road closures remain in place,” it said.
Residents near the Chevron El Segundo Refinery described feeling a rumble, then they saw the flames.
“Pretty much the whole sky was orange,” said Sam Daugherty, who lives 10 blocks away and began packing a bag in a panic.
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There were no injuries at the refinery and all personnel were accounted for, the company said in a statement late on Thursday, adding that a monitoring system indicated the fire did not move beyond the facility’s fence line. The statement did not say what caused the fire.
The El Segundo police and fire departments did not immediately comment on the fire, which appeared to have erupted suddenly.