Fire at huge Chevron oil refinery in Los Angeles area

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. – A fire has broken out at a huge Chevron oil refinery in the Los Angeles area.

Police say the fire erupted late Tuesday night at the Chevron El Segundo Refinery. The company’s website says the 1,000-acre refinery is the largest on the West Coast.

The fire sent smoke into surrounding residential neighbourhoods, and police advised that people close their windows.

Dramatic flames could be seen soon after the blaze broke out, but firefighters smothered it with foam, and within about a half-hour there was little visible flame. No injuries have been reported.

Fires at such refineries have had implications for gas prices, though it wasn’t yet clear if this one would.

Chevron was fined nearly $1 million by the state of California for a major fire in 2012 at a refinery in the San Francisco Bay Area.