Major Power Outage Causes Flaring at Torrance Refinery

TORRANCE, CA — A major power outage in the South Bay area led to flaring at the Torrance Refinery, prompting authorities to issue a shelter-in-place warning for those who live in the area. According to the Torrance Police Department, the shelter-in-place order had been lifted as of around 7:20 a.m.

The city of Torrance issued the following alert to residents warning them about the flare:

This is an emergency notification from the City of Torrance. We have responded to a flaring event at the Torrance Refining Company in Torrance. If you live in the area of the refinery Implement Shelter in Place procedures. Stay inside buildings, shut all doors and windows, turn off air conditioners, and turn off all air handling systems. You will be notified when there is a change in status. If you have a life threatening emergency, please dial 9-1-1.

The outage, reported at 5:41 a.m., affected about 100,000 customers in parts of Gardena, Hawthorne, Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach, Redondo Beach and Torrance, the utility reported.

Electricity was restored to 63,000 of those customers by 6:12 a.m., and all remaining customers had their power back by 7 a.m., according to an SCE statement released this afternoon.

The outage led to a flare-off at the Torrance Refining Co., according to the Torrance police and fire departments. The refinery was shut down and partially evacuated, said Torrance Fire Department Capt. Bob Millea.

"(The) refinery evacuated all non essential employees and accounted for all personnel," Millea said. "Torrance Fire Department and refinery personnel monitored the perimeter of the refinery and received no offsite readings."

One refinery worker was taken to a hospital for evaluation, Millea said.

"TFD personnel are remaining on scene to coordinate with refinery personnel to help bring their units back on line," Millea said at about 8:30 a.m. "The refinery flare will still be visible for an undetermined amount of time."

All streets around the refinery, however, are open, with the exception of Del Amo Boulevard between Crenshaw Boulevard and Maple Avenue.

Two flare-offs took place at the refinery about a month ago, both related to electrical problems. Those electrical problems led to a week-long temporary gasoline price hike last week. The Torrance facility refines roughly 20 percent of the gasoline supply in the Southern California region.

A flare-off is a safety procedure that refineries use "to relieve pressure and ensure gases are safely combusted to minimize releases to the atmosphere," according to the Torrance Fire Department.

According to Southern California Edison, major outages were reported just before 6 a.m. in Hawthorne, Torrance, Gardena, Redondo Beach, Hermosa Beach and Manhattan Beach.

The Torrance Unified School District declared Tuesday a "student free day," which means students stay home but staffers must report for work, Millea said.

See the latest outages via Southern California Edison

City News Service and Patch editor Alexander Nguyen contributed to this report

Patch will update this breaking news story

Image screenshot via SCE outage map