Chevron Fire Required 80 Firefighters and Five Hours to Extinguish

A Chevron spokeswoman said Tuesday morning that safety officials are allowing a small controlled burn at the company’s Richmond refinery following a Monday night blaze that took 80 firefighters from more than six agencies five hours to extinguish.  

Heather Kulp said that the cause of the fire is under investigation and apologized to neighboring communities for the fire that sent hundreds of people to local hospitals with respiratory complaints. She said that the part of the refinery that caught fire Monday is closed, but other sections are open. “It’s a normal day at work we are expecting folks to be on site and we will continue to operate,” she said.

Three employees were treated for minor injuries at the refinery, Kulp said. 

Kulp would not say when the closed part would reopen. “We will work to get the refinery up when it is safe to do so,” she said.

In addition to Chevron’s own emergency crews, firefighters from Richmond, El Cerrito, Rodeo, Hecules, Moraga and Orinda helped to put out the fire.

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