(BCN) — Martinez Refining Firm filed a required preliminary report with Contra Costa Well being on Wednesday afternoon about final weekend’s refinery fireplace, saying air monitoring for contaminants “resulted in no significant levels above background readings.”
The refinery was required to ship a 72-hour report back to the county well being division with preliminary particulars concerning the explosion and fireplace that injured six staff and prompted the county to subject a shelter-in-place order to close by communities Saturday. The report additionally mentioned the refinery carried out floor degree and fence line monitoring that discovered no contaminant ranges “above typical background levels” at 32 off-site air monitoring spots.
Below a bit of the report titled “Identity of material released and estimated or known quantities,” the refinery indicated lower than 500 kilos of sulfur dioxide was launched. In keeping with the U.S. Environmental Safety Company web site, sulfur dioxide can have an effect on each well being and the setting. The EPA mentioned short-term exposures to the pollutant can hurt the human respiratory system and make respiration troublesome.
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Folks with bronchial asthma, significantly kids, are delicate to the consequences of sulfur dioxide. The report confirmed six injured workers had been handled and launched.
MRC mentioned it obtained 18 calls on a group hotline and mentioned the issue started at 1:35 p.m. Its occasion abstract mentioned, “At roughly 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, February 1, 2025, two staff had been opening gear on the refinery in preparation for deliberate upkeep on one of many refinery’s course of models, which had been shut down on Thursday, January 30, 2025.
“It is currently believed that, while opening the equipment, hydrocarbon material started to leak. The two workers immediately evacuated the area, and the material subsequently caught fire, which spread within the immediate vicinity. Both of those workers were transported offsite for medical evaluation and released,” the report mentioned.
The refinery mentioned it notified the Contra Costa County Group Warning System at 1:48 p.m., leading to a degree 2 warning being despatched out. Stage 2 signifies the incident has or is anticipated to go offsite from the place the incident initially occurred and will affect well being or delicate populations.
The report mentioned MRC’s fireplace crews “quickly responded and began suppressing the fire. They called for mutual aid from industry partners and support from Contra Costa Fire Protection District (ConFire). To manage the response, MRC, ConFire, and the Martinez Police Department formed a Unified Command, which allows multiple agencies and organizations to effectively work together.”
The report mentioned, “By approximately 8:30 p.m., the fire had been suppressed to the point the Unified Command transitioned back to MRC, which continues to manage the incident response.”
CCH’s public well being director Dr. Ori Tzvieli informed the Martinez Metropolis Council on Wednesday night time that the well being impacts of the explosion and fireplace — which burned till Tuesday afternoon — are nonetheless unknown.
“We know that generally smoke from burning hydrocarbons of this type does have toxic chemicals in it,” Tzvieli mentioned. “We still don’t know exactly what was burning. The 72-hour report was not clear on that. So we have asked for clarification from the refinery.”
Tzvieli mentioned he expects to get extra particulars on precisely what burned within the subsequent few days.
“Luckily the wind was blowing the smoke largely away from the residential areas, so that was lucky. It probably reduced the health impacts,” he mentioned.
Tzvieli mentioned the black smoke that poured from the refinery final weekend sometimes comprises sulfur dioxide, hydrogen sulfide and particulate matter.
“Most of the readings that we had were within normal background range,” Tzvieli mentioned. “We had one or two readings that showed elevated particulate matter that was transient and went away fairly quickly … Beyond that, we’re still waiting to see what was burning.”
Tzvieli mentioned testing will point out any long-term results. He mentioned there was some particulate mud that fell in affected areas that’s being examined.
“We should know more once we get more clarification from the refinery of what was actually burning,” Tzvieli mentioned. “And I believe they’re still trying to access that area.”
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