Unfortunately, ExxonMobil, the owner-operator of the refinery at the time of the accident, did not respond to the CSBs requests for information detailing safeguards to prevent or mitigate a release of MHF, and therefore the agency was unable to fully explore this topic in its final report. 46,739 visits in the last 30 days. It was unclear what caused the fire. California Occupational Safety and Health officials were at the site investigating. And Torrance receives about $7.5 million annually in utility user taxes from the refinerys operation. We knew we were moving in next to a refinery it was here before we were, Cliff Heise said in an interview. The Torrance refinery, according to its website, has made several improvements, including a leak-detection system, upgraded water monitors, 24/7 automated, continuously monitored unit cameras and an expanded water mitigation system. Flares from the stack, part of a safety relief valve system, are part of normal operations that occasionally produce a rumbling sound, like distant thunder, caused by turbulent mixing of vapors. Of the injured, two were said to have sustained significant injuries. When you think about it, she said, it makes you not want to sleep at night.. TORRANCE (CBSLA.com) A New Jersey-based oil refining company announced Wednesday it is purchasing the ExxonMobil refinery in Torrance that was badly damaged in a February explosion, with. The modified HF catalyst reduces acid vapor pressure sufficiently to suppress the usual flash atomization process of hydrofluoric acid, that environmental impact report said, causing most of the acid to fall to the ground as an easily controlled liquid and reduces the potential for off-site consequences of an accidental HF release.. Let's get out of here. By then, the husband said, theyd been living in the city long enough to know exactly what the sound was. Across California, CA | News | 15h. Finally, the slide valve - a safety-critical safeguard within the system - was degraded significantly. Residents reported shaking normally associated with earthquakes throughout the South Bay area. If you're interested in joining our team, you can apply for a position here. At the center of that debate is the modified part of MHF. The PBF Energy facility has been plagued with a series of incidents since the massive blast two years ago that almost caused a catastrophic release of highly toxic hydrofluoric acid that could have killed and injured thousands. Edited by Rachel Barnes. Copyright 2023 KABC Television, LLC. "I was having my cup of coffee and all of the sudden the whole house shook, the windows vibrated," said Torrance resident John White. Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. Other groups including the refinerys unions and local businesses feared the potential economic fallout if the refineries were forced to transition to a safer alternative. Weve won over $1 Billion for our clients, recovered some of the largest verdicts and settlement in history, and obtained record-setting victories against the biggest trucking, oil and gas, maritime and petrochemical companies in the world. The refinery has been under constant scrutiny since the explosion as small fires and flare ups have been reported since and raised concern among residents living nearby. Chairperson Sutherland said, There are valuable lessons to be learned and applied at this refinery, and to all refineries in the U.S. Keeping our refineries operating safely is critical to the well-being of the employees and surrounding communities, as well as to the economy.. Environmentalists and concerned residents say MHF could prove catastrophic if the chemical were to escape, pointing to its corrosivity and studies that show its ability to travel beyond a refinerys footprint. Just before 9 that morning, pent-up gases at ExxonMobil's Torrance refinery south of Los Angeles had triggered an explosion so massive it registered as a magnitude-1.7 tremor. It appeared it was a gas explosion, but a hazardous materials team was on scene Sunday afternoon working to determine exactly what occurred. My first reaction was, this doesn't sound good, this doesn't look good. Economic factors, such as job creation and the regional and global importance of oil, further complicate the issue, at least for elected officials. The state could potentially lose thousands of jobs, and it could result in higher gasoline prices at the pump for California residents, businesses, and government, Californians for a Sustainable Economy an association representing hundreds of local businesses wrote in opposition to the ban. "I kind of figured we had an earthquake, then I realized, living by the factory for all those years, they had a problem with the factory.". TORRANCE, Calif. (KABC) -- The Torrance Police Department issued an alert for the city, notifying them that the Torrance ExxonMobil Refinery had an explosion and fire early Saturday morning. You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times. A group of activists on Saturday marked the fifth anniversary of an explosion at the Exxon Mobil refinery in Torrance that injured four workers and prompted continuing concerns about the potential for an even more catastrophic incident and the release of toxic chemicals and fumes into local communities. Principal Office: Houston Texas. CSB investigations look into all aspects of chemical accidents, including physical causes such as equipment failure as well as inadequacies in regulations, industry standards, and safety management systems. Today, the U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) released its final report into the February 18, 2015, explosion at the ExxonMobil refinery in Torrance, California. Hire a Houston personal injury lawyer with a proven track record. Investigators were trying to determine the cause of the blast, which occurred shortly before 9 a.m. PST . Si no quieres que nosotros ni nuestros socios utilicemos cookies y datos personales para estos propsitos adicionales, haz clic en Rechazar todo. U.S. Chemical Safety Board. This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated. The remainder of the FCC unit is comprised of a portion of the reaction process and a series of pollution control equipment that uses air and is known as the air side of the unit. Some said they heard one of the workers may have turned on the gas inside one of the apartments before it was completely ready. The blast caused serious property damage to the refinery and scattered catalyst dust up to a mile away from the facility into the nearby community. / KCAL News. Torrance firefighters . The CSBs report concludes that the unit was operating without proper procedures., MHF was the subject of a thorough technology review by a court-appointed Safety Advisor with input from the City of Torrance, Gesuina Lafayette, PBFs community relations advisor said in a recent email. Two others sustained minor injuries. Since the February 2015 explosion, the refinery has experienced multiple incidents. That update was completed last year as well. The explosion on Feb. 18, 2015, was described by federal regulators as a serious near miss.. ET), but there was no . Minor injuries were reported after the explosion ripped apart structures at the oil refinery and shook homes for miles around the blast site in southern Los Angeles County. All safety systems at the refinery operated correctly and personnel were safe, police said. Still, the explosion led to further safety measures, some the refineries put in voluntarily and others they did so essentially at the behest of government agencies. This explosion and near miss should not have happened, and likely would not have happened, had a more robust process safety management system been in place, then-CSB Chairwoman Vanessa Allen Sutherland said in a statement at the time. But at the time, theyd never heard of MHF and didnt think much of it. Zehl & Associates is always looking for smart, hardworking and talented personal injury attorneys and staff to join our team. Get up to speed with our Essential California newsletter, sent six days a week. They claim nothing has been done, she added, without any proof, other than their beliefs, which are incorrect and misleading.. Three dozen firefighters knocked down the blaze within a half-hour. On a day when activists marked the two-year anniversary of an explosion that rocked the then-ExxonMobil refinery and showered neighborhoods with industrial debris, another fire erupted at the troubled Torrance plant early Saturday. Copyright 2023 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. The fire, possibly triggered by an explosion that has not yet been confirmed, was reported at 6 a.m. Saturday in the plant's crude oil unit, said Torrance Assistant Fire Chief Steve Treskes. There have also been multiple safety enhancements to prevent leaks, they say. Steve Deuel said. While the unit where the blast occurred was ordered shut down, the rest of the refinery is still in operation. Zehl & Associates Injury & Accident Lawyers is a Houston Personal Injury Law Firm that represents accident victims across Texas, Louisiana and the United States. Deuel told The Associated Press the flare system was triggered to burn off fuel that could add to the fire. Workers were seen boarded up the windows of the affected apartments later Sunday afternoon. April 8, 2018 / 2:50 PM Cal/OSHA has shut down the fluid catalytic cracker and will only allow operations to resume once it can be exhibited that the unit can operate safely. Electrostatic precipitators are large machines that stand12 stories high and weigh more than 1,000 tons. May 3, 2017, Torrance, CA, -- Today, the U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) released its final report into the February 18, 2015, explosion at the ExxonMobil refinery in Torrance, California. Instead, if a leak occurred, a ground-hugging liquid cloud would form, according to a 2018 report from the Torrance refinery defending its use of the chemical. Passing motorists supplied supportive honks. No injuries were reported, and the fire did not impact anything offsite. Theyre going to pass it on to the consumer.. ExxonMobil Refinery Explosion Injures Two, Rains Ash Upon Neighborhood - Redondo Beach, CA - The blast at the Torrance refinery could be seen for miles and caused 1.7 magnitude ground-shaking. The explosion sent ash raining down on vehicles parked near the sprawling 750-acre site and caused what one worker described as intense shaking. No further details were immediately available. Organizers estimated the crowd size at more than 400. Firefighters found gasoline flowing on the ground as a result of the explosion, Torrance Fire Department Capt. For more than seven years, members of small, local activist groups have been irresponsibly making claims against the Refinerys use of MHF, without any basis in fact, Lafayette wrote recently. Had the tank ruptured, it would have caused a release of MHF, which is highly toxic. But the proposed ban on MHF is far from the first cost passed onto consumers: The 2015 explosion, according to the CSB, caused the refinery to run at limited capacity for more than a year and raised gas prices in California costing drivers in the state an estimated $2.4 billion. Paige Austin, Patch Staff. Para obtener ms informacin sobre cmo utilizamos tus datos personales, consulta nuestra Poltica de privacidad y Poltica de cookies. CSB Chairperson Vanessa Allen Sutherland said, This explosion and near miss should not have happened, and likely would not have happened, had a more robust process safety management system been in place. The four victims were found suffering varying degrees on injuries. There was also minor damage to two adjoining apartments, according to Millea. Four people were injured in an explosion at an apartment building in Torrance Sunday afternoon, officials said. Chevron, for example, successfully converted its Salt Lake City refinery from HF to a new alkylation technology last year. Other than the affected crude unit, the refinery continues to operate, Brien said. Living in such close proximity to the refinery, Donna Heise said, makes it hard for the couple to ignore the chemicals potential dangers. Prior to joining the Press-Telegram, she served as the Daily Breeze's lead city hall reporter. Robert Millea said he couldnt immediately confirm whether an explosion actually occurred, only that one was reported. In February, a large explosion occurred at ExxonMobil's refinery in Torrance, California. TORRANCE, Calif. -- An explosion rocked an Exxon Mobil refinery on Wednesday morning, triggering a huge smokestack flare, raining down ash and leaving four with minor injuries, company and. Puedes cambiar tus opciones en cualquier momento haciendo clic en el enlace Panel de control de privacidad de nuestros sitios y aplicaciones. Notably absent from the event was any sign of Torrance elected officials, although police officers in several patrol cars discreetly kept their eye on the peaceful protesters from a distance. "Emergency procedures have been activated to address the incident, and employees are working with the appropriate agencies," a statement by the ExxonMobil Torrance Refinery said. Torrance fire Capt. 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County, Over $38M stolen from low-income SoCal families, Newport Beach home dangling after cliffside collapse, High-speed rail from L.A. to Vegas: What we know, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. Anza Avenue had been closed for a few hoursas emergency personnel responded. And so, the battle over MHFs future appears set to linger on with the Board of Supervisors call for a ban the latest volley. Its been a few years now, and there has been very little progress.. But we had no idea about the danger.. The Torrance refinery, however, also contributes significantly to the citys economy. For a while, though, flames shot 40 feet into the air. TORRANCE, Calif. (KABC) -- The Torrance Police Department issued an alert for the city, notifying them that the Torrance ExxonMobil Refinery had an explosion and fire early Saturday. The explosion also spurred a movement among residents to oppose MHF. TORRANCE, CALIFORNIA Just before 9 a.m. on February 18, the ExxonMobil refinery in Torrance, California exploded, shaking the surrounding community with the force of a 1.7 magnitude earthquake, and sending a quarter ton of sulfur oxide gas into the atmosphere. As a result, unraveling the debates complexities remains challenging. The fire was reported to the South Coast Air Quality Management District and California Office of Emergency Services, police said. Redondo Beach Local News. The respective responses were predictable: For years, both sides of this battle have zealously defended their positions. Explosion reported in Torrance Fire department vehicles will patrol Los Angeles with vehicles and helicopters to identify the damage or emergency needs, it was reported. MHF opponents have also expressed concerns that the refineries havent done enough to ensure the communities safety. 1998 - 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. | All Rights Reserved. (Credit: KTLA) The blast at the refinery, which is located in the 3700 block of West . That, the report said, would prevent the chemical from dispersing as widely as it would as an aerosol. By Nichola Groom TORRANCE, Calif. (Reuters) - An explosion and fire ripped through a gasoline processing unit at an Exxon Mobil refinery in Torrance, California, near Los Angeles on Wednesday, slightly injuring four workers and shattering windows of surrounding buildings, authorities said. Its unacceptable we were put in harms way, said Daphne Wong, who added that she does not believe the official line that Torrance is a safe community. Thick smoke rose from a mangled, multiple-story portion of the Torrance ExxonMobil Refinery, located south of the 405 Freeway, after the 8:50 a.m. blast. Nosotros, Yahoo, somos parte de la familia de marcas de Yahoo. A smoke advisory was issued for areas near the ExxonMobil refinery due to Wednesday morning's explosion and fire. On Saturday, the Torrance Refinery Action Alliance announced a campaign urging Gov. The machines are responsible for reducing ammonia and particulate emissions in a plant to comply with environmental regulations. The investigation of the Torrance explosion by the U.S. Chemical Safety Board revealed that a piece of equipment nearly crashed into a tank holding tens of thousands of pounds of modified hydrofluoric acid a highly toxic chemical used to make high-octane gasoline. Authorities said the incident happened around 6 a.m. and 36 firefighters responded to the refinery. Our Manhattan Beach office is physically closed at this time. Those improvements were completed in 2021 and are now in service, Lafayette said. The issues to be discussed include A decision not to use the ExxonMobil emergency siren to alert the community to the explosion and subsequent ash and dust fallout.. Refinery spokeswoman Betsy Brien said the fire was quickly extinguished and the Del Amo Boulevard barriers were activated to close the road under an abundance of caution.. All the while, officials at those facilities have defended the chemicals use as safe. The AQMD scrapped the potential ban in 2019 instead accepting proffers from both refineries that promised to make safety enhancements to their existing MHF units. That failure ultimately allowed hydrocarbons to flow into the air side of the FCC, where they ignited in a piece of equipment called the electrostatic precipitator, or ESP, causing an explosion of the ESP. Officials were investigating the cause of the over-pressurization. The AQMD estimated that replacing the MHF alkylation units with a safer sulfuric acid unit would cost the Torrance refinery about $900 million, and could temporarily impact gasoline supply and cost. Explosion Rocks ExxonMobil Refinery in Torrance, California. Tests have shown that MHF, which Torrance has used since 1997, rapidly expands upon release and can travel at lethal concentrations up to two miles, according to a presentation from AQMD staff. May 3, 2017, Torrance, CA, -- Today, the U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) released its final report into the February 18, 2015, explosion at the ExxonMobil refinery in Torrance, California. mostrar anuncios y contenido personalizados basados en perfiles de inters; medir la efectividad de los anuncios y el contenido personalizados, y. desarrollar y mejorar nuestros productos y servicios. The rule would have required a gradual phase-out of MHF usage at both refineries, requiring an alternative catalyst, such as sulfuric acid. The 2015 explosion, according to the CSB, caused the refinery to run at limited capacity for more than a year and raised gas prices in California costing drivers in the state an estimated $2.4. Hours after an explosion ripped through a Torrance refinery, residents for miles around continue to grapple with ash, a gas odor and concerns over poor air quality while inspectors confirmed that a filtration device was the source of the blast. More information will be added as soon as it becomes available. Kristy Hutchings covers all things Long Beach including local government, politics, and the environment. First thing I thought was to call my wife, my kids, and let them know I'm safe.". Three of them were taken to a nearby hospital, authorities said, after earlier indicating all four had been transported. Some community members do not believe that the company did not enough to respond to the emergency.