General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsUpdated (again): Smoke near Long Beach, CA apparently a refinery fire (reported as planned burn).
Last edited Sat Sep 15, 2012, 07:15 PM - Edit history (3)
Nothing on news feeds, though, which seems odd.
And ABC news webcam no longer showing that shot, which also seems odd.
Cleita
(75,480 posts)I remember the fires from about fifty years ago coming from that area. Being that it's LA, the news will be there shortly.
cbayer
(146,218 posts)It's deadly hot here and we had Santa Ana Winds last night, so I'm concerned.
Will watch the news feeds.
Cleita
(75,480 posts)I'm up on the Central Coast and our news outlets are pathetic for any news outside our county.
aint_no_life_nowhere
(21,925 posts)But Long Beach is long and the place where the refineries are located, at the northern end where it meets Wilmington and San Pedro is a fur piece.
cbayer
(146,218 posts)Palos Verdes.
I am pretty sure it's not just refinery smoke and it's hundreds of feet tall, so I am surprised that you can't see it.
goclark
(30,404 posts)There was to be a huge "Lobster Fest" in San Pedro today but that is all I see so far.
There was a big fire yesterday near the Getty Museum.
Smoke was all over the sky for miles.
left coaster
(1,093 posts)I know it's not exactly in the LB area, but it's the only fire I've heard mention of in the past day or so..
http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=weather/wildfire_center&id=8811894
Cleita
(75,480 posts)cbayer
(146,218 posts)left coaster
(1,093 posts)Sometimes the smoke from fires can be seen long distances.. anyway, just offered a suggestion.. have a nice ___
cbayer
(146,218 posts)Maybe this happens all the time from the refineries, but I have never noticed?
Cleita
(75,480 posts)If you hadn't lived in LA and were just looking at news, you might not know.
Sedona
(3,769 posts)but that a ways away from Long Beach too
KansDem
(28,498 posts)I remember standing in my backyard and watching great bellows of black smoke coming from Signal Hill. I was only five at the time but still remember it like it was last week.
I know the oil industry left Signal Hill years ago, but could this San Pedro/Long Beach fire could be another oil industry location still operating?
Cleita
(75,480 posts)Sedona
(3,769 posts)lpbk2713
(42,766 posts)goclark
(30,404 posts)Her 90 yr.old mother lives in Long Beach.
Thanks so much for updating us.
cbayer
(146,218 posts)goclark
(30,404 posts)I'll keep checking
PS/ I once lived in San Pedro , one block from the water.
A huge hill started sinking into the ocean area below it last year I believe -- someplace I read that it was because of " Fracking" from Oil Wells in the area.
I don't recall Oil Wells when I lived there.
cbayer
(146,218 posts)Perhaps we just haven't noticed it before because the conditions make it very, very visible right now.
Thanks everyone, going to change my subject line so people won't be alarmed.
Cleita
(75,480 posts)Back in the days when LA smog was so bad you sometimes could barely see across the street, we always noticed that the air cleared up somewhat on weekends and especially holiday weekends. Of course, back then the propaganda shills blamed it on cars, but clever us, we the people, knew that people still drove on the weekends. Actually, anybody flying into LA during the week could see the black smoke belching from the refineries. It was pretty obvious to everyone except the politicians who were in the back pocket of the oil companies. Finally, the refineries were nailed and made to clean up much, not all of their emissions as was the auto industry. I digress with this little story. I still don't think they operate on weekends. That fire on the cam strikes me as a building on fire. You might see them touch on it in the evening news.
cbayer
(146,218 posts)The Santa Ana that came through here last night was really noticeable, so I think I am just being overly cautious.
Hopefully it's just a building fire or something completely contained.
Sedona
(3,769 posts)nt
wolfwatcher
(2 posts)this is the only place online I found discussing it. I'm in Altadena and smoke plume is clearly visible.
A neighbor friend found this on twitter:
http://twitter.yfrog.com/jn296tnjjxvodkbrkyilulxbz
So appears to be a refinery fire...nothing on the news at all. (is this normal operations??)
cbayer
(146,218 posts)Linlab
(1 post)I've been looking all over the internet for the answer to this....I see it from the Seal Beach
area. Finally I just called the newsroom at ABCchannel 7 and they said that IT'S A REFINERY
FIRE IN CARSON AT CONICO-PHILLIPS. They told me that they don't even have any crews
going over there because there's "so many fires going on"!
Cleita
(75,480 posts)Welcome to DU!
Here it is.
http://goo.gl/maps/RiSI7
Response to Linlab (Reply #26)
cbayer This message was self-deleted by its author.
cbayer
(146,218 posts)It looks like it is getting bigger from here (Catalina). Hope we get some news soon.
Interestingly, the ABC webcam changed their direction so you can't see it anymore.
wolfwatcher
(2 posts)Went back to look at the webcam so I didn't have to go outside (its so hot!!) and poof, now looking at something else.
Interesting...tired of answering questions about it?
Tweets from ABS/CBS/KCAL all say this is a "procedural refinery burn off"...nothing out of the ordinary. It certainly looks extra-ordinary to me.
cbayer
(146,218 posts)I hope they have it all contained.
Cleita
(75,480 posts)hoping they can get it under control before the sh*t hits the fan. I hope not, but it's been done before.
cbayer
(146,218 posts)information available so as to not alarm people.
I mean, it was quite a dramatic sight from here and we are at least 25 miles away.
Cleita
(75,480 posts)You probably get a better view from a distance. I just called a friend of mine who lives in Carson. She wasn't aware of anything, but did say that she thought she smelled something funny. She's going to let me know if anything drastic is happening.
Response to cbayer (Reply #33)
Cleita This message was self-deleted by its author.
Sedona
(3,769 posts)(edited to say....Yeah I know its a right wing station but their weekend non political programming is pretty good)
Cleita
(75,480 posts)the weekend. Usually, any kind of burn offs are done during damp weather conditions here in California. I think I'll wait and see.
Response to cbayer (Original post)
Cleita This message was self-deleted by its author.
calimary
(81,440 posts)This single flume of dark smoke rising out of the flats out a little farther below the big hill that is the Palos Verdes peninsula. Meanwhile, farther off to the north and west up in the mountain canyons, brushfires! Three that I was able to see. One spot east of the freeway, one spot deeper within the canyons to the west of the freeway. We saw two different kinds of water drops - helicopter and airplane - in what locals were saying was Rustic Canyon and the Will Rogers area and the Mandeville Canyon area. There was a third one, I think, just inside the Valley end of the Sepulveda Pass - LOTS of thick light-brown smoke in this one localized area but I couldn't see any fire.
And it's hot here. Been hot for awhile and dry, hasn't rained in months except for something quick and flukey a couple of weeks or so ago. So there's lots of good rich fire food in the hills all over L.A.
cbayer
(146,218 posts)weakened any of the prevention measures now that less people are camping and hiking.
Anyway, looks like the refinery fire is done, thank goodness, but the smoke still hovers.
Sedona
(3,769 posts)Power outage required burn off of fuel in pipes. That was a whole lot of fuel!
cbayer
(146,218 posts)I'm just glad it wasn't my imagination and even more glad that it wasn't an uncontrolled fire.
Thanks for the update, Sedona!
I did not see this post yesterday.
We have a freak'n VIEW of that damned toxic refinery, out of our kitchen window...it can't be anymore than .75 - 1 mile away...it's in Harbor City...now owned by Phillips (it has changed hands so many times over the years, that we've lost count).
So we noticed the burn off at about 1:00PM...originally two of the stacks with MASSIVE flames (when this happens and it has happened before) that must be at least 12-15 feet tall, from the top of the stack, and BELCHING thick, black smoke.
According to the LATimes.com site...the plant lost ALL power and they were just burning off some product in the lines.
HELL, that went on until well after dark (so we could not see the smoke) and the flames (one burned continuous from at least 1:00PM and the second one was on and off)...I was up until 1AM, and the flames were still going (at least 12 hours?). They had stopped by this morning.
That smoke was thicker and blacker than I have seen in 20 years. We don't know what the hell was going on but that smoke could not have been healthy for anyone that it drifted over. Usually, we get a West to East wind in the afternoons but it was so flipp'n hot yesterday (it was 102F in our driveway), we ended up with virtually no wind. It appeared to be drifting mostly North of the plant (over the golf course and Harbor College area). I'll tell ya, IF it had started to head our way, we were getting the hell out of the area...needless to say, we kept the windows all closed (thank goodness we have A/C).
There have been so many bullshit things that have happened over there over the years...and all we get is some pablum from a "spokesperson"...most of us in the neighborhood figure we are all dead, due to garbage from over there.
cbayer
(146,218 posts)Once we noticed it, I kept looking and looking for info, as did many who participated in this thread.
So sorry that you are so close to it. It must have been scary, because it was alarming from way over here.
Glad you are ok.
That lack of coverage is the norm.
Many years ago, there was an explosion at that Texaco plant (to the side of the 405, just South of the Ikea mall), that blew something up. At the time, we had our kitchen window open and it blew the mini-blind up and made a huge noise....5 miles? At least?
It got virtually no coverage.
Anyways...thanks for the regards!