There were no measurable health impacts on the community following flaring Monday afternoon at the Chevron refinery in Richmond, according to Contra Costa Health.
Chevron Richmond said the flaring activity occurred after a partial outage at the facility. A plume of smoke could be seen across the Bay Area during the flaring, which was first reported at 3:45 p.m. Contra Costa Health late Monday deployed a hazardous materials team to investigate and said no public health advisories related to the flaring were issued.
The refinery said a Community Warning System (CWS) Level 1 was issued due to the visibility of the flare and associated smoke, according to Chevron Richmond, adding a CWS Level 1 requires no action by the public.
The flare up led to dozens of complaints about air quality in the region, and residents in the area feel it's unfortunately become a common sight over the years.
“There it goes again. I was here 10 years ago when they had the big fire and the wind was blowing in the other direction,” said Jeff Wright of Richmond, referring to a 2012 fire at the refinery caused by a leak in a corroded pipe in the crude oil unit.
That sent a massive cloud of thick smoke into the air and also sent thousands of people to local hospitals.
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“This is never a good thing, this means something went wrong at the facility,” said John Gioia, Contra Costa County supervisor representing Richmond, who also serves on the advisory board of the Bay Area Air Quality Management District.
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He said hazmat crews and the air quality district were on site Monday night investigating the incident.
Based on their findings, a determination will be made on potential fines for the refinery.
“That flaring, when the smoke comes down to ground level, can have health impacts and flaring should not happen if there's no issues at the refinery,” said Gioia.
Despite the massive amounts of smoke, county health officials did not issue any public health advisories.
Luapi from Point Richmond could see the flaring activity from her home in Point Richmond.
And with Chevron’s history of incidents at the refinery, she’s always weary about how these flare ups will impact her family's health down the road.
“You’re really not sure how accurate the information is. And being that you have family with allergies, and asthma and respiratory issues, it really is a concern,” she said.
Supervisor Gioia said county health officials are still advising those with respiratory issues to take precautionary measures if needed.
As of Monday night, the Bay Area Air Quality District reported 51 complaints regarding this event.
