East Bay refinery fire: 6 injured in Martinez, shelter in place lifts, no timeline for extinguishing

A fire that erupted at Martinez Refining Co.’s facility in Contra Costa County on Saturday afternoon injured at least six people and prompted officials to issue a shelter-in-place alert for adjacent neighborhoods for about four hours, as black smoke spewed into the surrounding community.

The blaze broke out at approximately 1:47 p.m., officials said, spewing plumes of black smoke and hundreds of pounds sulphur dioxide. The fire was contained to the refinery but remained unextinguished as of Saturday evening as refinery fire personnel and firefighters from the Contra Costa County Fire Protection District worked to put it out. A shelter-in-place alert for parts of Martinez was lifted just before 9:30 p.m. ---More...

????#BREAKING: Emergency crews declared a level 2 hazmats situation after a massive fire has broken out at the Martinez refinery plant

????#ContraCosta | #California

Numerous emergency crews are currently on the scene in Contra Costa County, California, after a massive fire broke… pic.twitter.com/ep01rzqtgb

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