12 Mar County Supervisor to Host Town Hall Thursday on Refinery Fire

Flames and smoke billow from the Martinez Refining Company on Feb. 1. (Tony Hicks / Bay City News)

By Tony Hicks
Bay City News

Contra Costa County Supervisor Shanelle Scales-Preston will hold a town hall meeting Thursday evening on last month’s Martinez Refining Company fire.

The meeting will run from 6:30-8 p.m. at John Muir Elementary School at 205 Vista Way in Martinez. The refinery is in Scales-Preston’s District 5.

Scales-Preston will be joined by representatives of Contra Costa Health, the refinery, Contra Costa’s hazardous materials team, Contra Costa County Fire Protection District, the county’s Community Warning System, Bay Area Air District, Martinez Public Works Department, and the Contra Costa Water District.

An explosion and fire were reported at approximately 1:30 p.m. Feb. 1, when two workers opened equipment while preparing for planned maintenance on a process unit.

MRC, which is owned by PBF Energy Inc., said hydrocarbon material started leaking, prompting workers to flee. The material caught fire, which spread into a blaze that produced heavy smoke and burned for three days.

The county issued a shelter-in-place alert at 4:49 p.m. Feb. 1 for neighborhoods near the refinery, and the alert was lifted at about 9 p.m.

Six workers were injured, though none seriously, refinery officials said.

MRC said 170 barrels — 7,140 gallons — of hydrocarbon materials were released during the fire, most of which they said were consumed by the flames.

Contra Costa Health said chemicals and combustion byproducts from the fire included those that cause cancer, heart and lung disease.

County health officer Dr. Ori Tzvieli said Martinez residents were fortunate the wind blew most of the toxic smoke north of the refinery, away from populated areas. CCH also said air quality measurements taken during the incident showed concentrations of chemicals in the air during the event were mostly below the threshold considered dangerous.

MRC in a 30-day report after the fire said that because of flaring arising from the unplanned shutdown of refinery operating units to respond to the fire, more than 500 pounds of sulfur dioxide were released.

The Bay Area Air District cited MRC for visible emissions and odor caused by the fire, for visible emissions and fallout exceeding standards, and for not operating equipment as needed.

CCH said air district samples taken during the fire were consistent with its findings: that cancer-causing chemicals in the air north of the refinery were above “historical background levels.”

MRC said it expects to be done investigating the fire by April 30.

The refinery has experienced multiple problems the past few years, including releases of coke dust — a black, sooty substance created during the petroleum refining process. The most notable case was a release of 20-24 tons of spent catalyst on Thanksgiving 2022 that coated homes and vehicles of Martinez residents, who weren’t made aware of the release until two days later.

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