Flare causes black smoke over North Manhattan Beach

Morning commuters throughout the South Bay witnessed a large plume of black smoke from a controlled burn off Tuesday at the Chevron Refinery in El Segundo. Photo

by Andrea Ruse

A large plume of black smoke from the Chevron refinery in El Segundo spread out over the ocean Tuesday morning.

The smoke was the result of a controlled burn off from a safety flare, according to Lily Craig, External Affairs Manager at Chevron. The burn off started at 9:20 a.m. and lasted for approximately 20 min.

“Our facility lost an air compressor which provides instrument air to several process units,” read a statement released by Chevron. “This situation resulted in an upset to our fuel gas system which resulted in fuel gas being sent to a safety flare.”

Generally, flares are used to burn off excess fuel produced during the refinery process.

But they’re also triggered by equipment break downs. These flares cause the flame to be larger than usual as it burns leftover fuel in the equipment line.

El Segundo Fire Battalion Chief Breck Slover said there were no safety issues regarding the burn off. ESFD is investigating the cause of the machinery malfunction.

“There are no environmental or health hazards associated with burn offs,” Slover said.

For more information, call (310) 615-5342. ER

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