A HUGE fireball explosion ripped through and oil refinery in Los Angeles, sending shockwaves across the city.
A fire sparked at the Chevron refinery in El Segundo, just outside the busy LAX airport, and could be seen for miles, police said.
ReutersA fireball rises from the Chevron refinery in El Segundo[/caption]
ReutersFirefighters work to contain the blaze[/caption]
ReutersFire crews doused the fire with hoses from a crane[/caption]
Footage shows a colossal fireball erupting into the southern California sky at the initial point of explosion.
Vast flames continue to lick out beneath a thick cloud of smoke, prompting a huge emergency response.
Firefighters arrived on the scene at around 9:35pm local time, responding to reports of a loud blast.
No injuries have been reported, but locals were told to stay indoors and shut their windows.
The El Segundo neighborhood is immediately south of LAX, but Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said there “no known impact” to the airport’s operations.
El Segundo Mayor Chris Pimentel praised the rapid response of the emergency services said he was “very concerned” by the scenes.
He said: “We were able to respond to the Chevron fire immediately, our station is about a .25 miles away from the gates of Chevron.
“Obviously, we are very concerned, and there is a lot of investigative work to be done to see what has happened.”
Terrifying images and videos were shared to social media by the people of Los Angeles.
Videos shot from miles off show the refinery glowing orange against the night cityscape.
When the explosion happened, Mark Rogers was playing sport the at Aviation Park, just a few miles away from the refinery.
He told the Los Angeles Times: “I thought we got nuked or something.”
Kevin Mohr, who was in Manhattan Beach, told the paper: “I didn’t know if a plane crashed or there was an earthquake or both.”
Punters at a nearby Top Golf downed their clubs to watch the blaze.
Once they realised the severity of the fire, however, panic spread and they fled into the parking lot to their cars.
APThe refinery is shrouded in smoke as emergency crews work[/caption]
ReutersFlames spout from vertical tanks at the refinery[/caption]
Julian Reese, 13, said he and his father felt a blast before running outside to see the fire.
Los Angeles County Supervisor Holly Mitchell, who represents the City of El Segundo, said the fire had been contained to one section of the refinery.
He said: “It has been contained and there is no cause for alarm for El Segundo or the surrounding areas.”
The Chevron refinery is the largest refinery on the west coast, capable of producing 276,000 barrels of crude oil each day.
It supplies more than 40 percent of jet fuel and more than 20 percent of motor fuel across Southern California.
A huge workforce of 1,000 employees and a further 1,000 contactors is needed on site each day to keep the operation ticking.
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