Contra Costa Health (CCH) recommends that residents of Martinez, parts of Pacheco and Clyde who have respiratory sensitivity remain indoors with doors and windows shut today while smoke continues to clear from a fire at Martinez Refining Company (MRC).
A map of the affected area will be available at cwsalerts.com while this health advisory remains in effect.
CCH was first notified of the event when MRC, owned by PBF Energy, reported the fire through the county’s Community Warning System (CWS) at 1:49 p.m. Saturday. The Level 2 CWS alert warned that the incident could potentially affect surrounding neighborhoods, prompting CCH to issue its health advisory.
While firefighters from MRC, Contra Costa County Fire Protection District, and other surrounding agencies responded to the fire, CCH’s Hazardous Materials Program immediately deployed a team to the refinery to monitor air quality.
CCH broadened the area to which the health advisory applied to include parts of Pacheco and Clyde at 2:32 p.m. Then ground-level air quality near the refinery began to worsen, prompting CCH to escalate the incident to a Level 3 CWS alert at 4:48 p.m.
“The plume of smoke from the burning hydrocarbons was going high above the community at the beginning of the incident. But the movement of the smoke changed during the firefighting and it was much closer to ground level, in the community,” CCH Hazardous Materials Director Nicole Heath said. “We escalated the warning because the conditions changed, and the air quality became more concerning, particularly north of the refinery.”
The escalated incident prompted CWS sirens to sound in the community every 30 minutes, to alert residents of a shelter-in-place order applying to everyone in the area.
As the firefighting effort progressed, air quality eventually improved enough in neighborhoods around the refinery that CCH de-escalated the CWS alert back to Level 2, at 9:12 p.m.
At 11 a.m. Sunday, the fire was mostly out. CCH will keep its health advisory for people with respiratory sensitivity in place until the fire is completely extinguished.
Four people were transported by ambulance to area hospitals for non-critical injuries or health concerns related to the event.
CCH will notify the community when the health advisory is lifted.
CCH is investigating the cause of the incident, in accordance with the county’s Industrial Safety Ordinance.
In addition to a 72-hour report and subsequent 30-day reports, MRC will be required to perform a Root Cause Analysis, which is an investigation aimed at identifying how the incident happened and what can be done to prevent future similar incidents from occurring.
Visit cchealth.org to check the status of the health advisory.
Watch those gas prices jump.