Louisiana oil refinery fire continues to smolder, production curbed
(Reuters) - A storage tank fire at a Marathon Petroleum oil refinery that had triggered a temporary evacuation of area residents continue to smolder, a spokesperson said.
Two giant tanks of volatility naphtha caught fire early Friday at the Garyville, Louisiana, plant and sent plumes of black smoke over the area. Some fuel processing operations remained shut as firefighters contended with flare ups and smoke, Marathon said.
Two responders suffered minor injuries and 10 firefighters reported heat stress. The plant said it pulled firefighters from out-of-state plants, local St. John the Baptist responders and received equipment and supplies from 12 other groups.
The 596,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) oil processing plant is the third largest in the U.S. It is located about 38 miles (67 km) west of New Orleans and produces gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, asphalt, and plastics.
The company said it was evaluating a return to operation of affected units but did not say when that might occur. Investigators will start probing the cause of the blaze once conditions allow.
Air monitoring is being conducted by the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality and an unnamed third party. A help line for affected residents has been set up, Marathon said. Local officials temporarily evacuated residents from a two-mile radius around the plant.
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