At the Daily Dot, we’re big fans of Storify. It’s both a tool we use to tell stories and a community of other storytellers. When the Web reacts to a big news event, we’ll use Storify to bring you the best recaps and explainers.
The core of a Chevron oil refinery in Richmond, Calif., caught fire Monday night and has blanketed surrounding towns and cities in black smoke possibly containing sulfuric acid and nitrogen dioxide.
The fire started at about 6:15pm PT and reports indicate that it was contained at about 10:31pm PT. One employee has suffered minor injuries, Chevron reported.
A civil emergency message was issued for Contra Costa County around 7:30 pm instructing people to “go inside, close all windows and doors. Turn off all heaters. Air conditioners and fans. If not using the fireplace. Close fireplace dampers and vents. And cover cracks around doors and windows with tape or damped towels.”
The news of the fire has spread on Twitter, collecting more than 6,000 tweets in the last hour, from people sharing photos of the black clouds and info on how people can protect themselves inside their homes.
The same sort of response was seen on the social news site Reddit, where users discussed the incident and provided some insight into how toxic the dark clouds may be.
“There is currently clouds of black smoke all over the sky,” user cantremembershit commented. “The air has begun to smell somewhat like plastic and general other toxic shit. My moms eyes turned red and felt gritty, like particles got in her eyes, after she was outside for awhile.”
The fire started in the crude distillation unit (CDU), which is “at the heart of the refining process, converting the crude oil coming into a refinery into intermediate feedstock for all other units,” Reuters reported. It could take months to repair the unit, Reuters added.
The Chevron plant in Richmond refines about 245,000 barrels worth of “gasoline, jet fuel, diesel, lubricants and other oil products,” Bloomberg News reported.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
The following is a Storify from Dan Herman, assistant news editor at the York Daily News, with tweets, video, and information on the fire.
Photo via @carvalho312012
