In the Los Angeles sprawl just south of the airport, about 9:30 last night, the normal city sounds were suddenly interrupted by a tremendous, explosive noise, followed by a massive column of flames that roared skyward into the normal nighttime building and traffic twinkles.
There had been an explosion at the Chevron refinery in El Segundo, which, according to the company, is the largest 'producing oil refinery' on the West Coast.
...According to Chevron's website, the El Segundo refinery was constructed in 1911. The facility produces 276,000 barrels of crude oil every day and "is the largest producing oil refinery on the west coast," Chevron officials wrote on its website.
BREAKING 🚨🚨#ElSegundo / #California
— OC Scanner 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 (@OC_Scanner) October 3, 2025
Possible refinery fire/explosion in El Segundo. Multi alarm response is going. https://t.co/AJqFaNAJ0V pic.twitter.com/xNUpknVYNc
And the initial explosion was so large, it was caught on wildlife cameras (a statewide system run by the University of San Diego) miles away.
BREAKING 🚨🚨#ElSegundo / #California
— OC Scanner 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 (@OC_Scanner) October 3, 2025
More videos of the MASSIVE EXPLOSION and fireball at the Chevron Refinery tonight. Looks like multiple areas of the plant are on fire. A multi agency response from across LA County is responding and surrounding areas are being evacuated.… pic.twitter.com/YQQGNcip5N
The video is breathtaking.
Chevron’s refinery — the company’s 2nd biggest site in the US — in El Segundo, outside los Angeles went bang last night at around 9pm local, people were saying they thot they got nuked, feeling the blast!
— Raggy... (@raggymerchant) October 3, 2025
* Someone got a drone up an gave us 5mins ov footage ov this shitstorm... pic.twitter.com/l8Pp37alAP
The blast was SO loud, the fireball rolling skyward so mushroomy-looking...
Did the El Segundo refinery just blow up?? pic.twitter.com/caumsXlrM8
— Dival Banerjee 🦆 (@divalbanerjee) October 3, 2025
...and the concussive wave so intense that folks for miles around the area thought they'd been nuked.
...Julian Reese, 13, said he and his dad felt a major blast and then ran outside, seeing flames fill the sky.
At Aviation Park, just a few miles from the Chevron plant, Mark Rogers was playing in his weekly adult soccer league when the apparent explosion took place.
“I thought we got nuked or something,” said Rogers, 34. The referee ended up canceling their game minutes after it started due to the heavy smoke.
Keith Mohr, 53, lives just south of the refinery in Manhattan Beach. After he felt the blast, he told his wife to grab their dogs and head to the car. They returned home once officials said there was no public safety threat.
“This was 300-foot flames,” said Mohr, noting that he’s lived by the refinery for more than two decades and had never seen anything like the inferno. “I didn’t know if a plane crashed or there was an earthquake or both.”
Dude panicked and ran out on his tab at Top Golf in Los Angeles last night after the Cheveron refinery exploded in El Segundo pic.twitter.com/aiwbkncGE8
— Kevin Dalton (@TheKevinDalton) October 3, 2025
The local KABC7 news chopper had been in the air covering a pretty dramatic police pursuit when the sky lit up around them. They whipped their camera over to the other side to catch the inferno erupting on the horizon.
It was a blast thousands across SoCal could see. The Chevron refinery fire lit up skies for miles. Now, members of our Eyewitness News team relive those tense moments. We update the firefight and impacts on fuel supplies - This morning at 6 from ABC7. https://t.co/4XzhuVxhUo pic.twitter.com/JdhqR79Z9k
— ABC7 Eyewitness News (@ABC7) October 3, 2025
The Chevron refinery has its own fire department, which swung into action immediately. El Segundo and neighboring LA units were on scene within minutes of the blast to assist in battling the inferno. Terrifying as it looked, the response crews managed to keep the conflagration contained to one section of the refinery.
Miraculously, there were no reports of any injuries.
Officers and firefighters responded to the refinery in El Segundo after receiving multiple reports of an explosion, according to the El Segundo Police Department. A witness said the explosion felt like a small earthquake.
Crews from the LA County Fire Department also responded to the area to help. The California Governor's Office of Emergency Services said it would coordinate with state and local officials.
The refinery has its own fire department. El Segundo Mayor Chris Pimentel said authorities have not received any reports of injuries.
"We were able to respond with Chevron fire immediately, our station is about a .25 mile away from the gates of Chevron," Pimentel said. "Obviously, we are very concerned, and there is a lot of investigative work to be done to see what has happened."
There wasn't any time to call for evacuations, either, and residents were told to close up their homes and stay indoors to avoid the billowing clouds of black smoke and particulate falling from the air. County officials also closed area roads and diverted traffic away from the scene.
After an hour, firefighters had the size of the fire brought under control, but it was still burning this morning. The South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD) hadn't noted any dangerous levels of particulate matter as of last night, but warned that this could change as the smoke from the previous evening settles.
The KABC7 chopper was over the refinery early this morning to cover the ongoing operations to put the fire out and update the public on which surface streets are beginning to reopen.
Another safety issue, which will take time, as the pilot notes, is being able to get crews into the refinery and to the scene of the fire in order to isolate and shut down all the valves and pipes running through that section. All those combustibles have to be cut off and drained out before repair work can begin.
The refinery is closed until further notice.
This is California - think what that means.
Well, wait - let me first tell you what the El Segundo refinery does:
...Chevron's second biggest refinery in the United States, the El Segundo facility supplies a fifth of all motor vehicle fuels and 40% of the jet fuel consumed in southern California.
It's now shut down.
Here's some Greasy Gavin Newsom Climate Cult #mathz
did you know in 1976 the last oil refinery in california was opened. there were 33 in operation serving 21.9 million people and 11.5 million cars. Today there are 13 (well now 12) refineries all dilapidating serving 39.5 million people and 30.4 million vehicles. not sustainable.
— Rich's musings (@skeeballbob37) October 3, 2025
Here's a Californian living in Greasy Gavin Newsom's Climate Cult hellhole #mathz
$10 gasoline here we come.
— Mike Umbro 🪃 (@MikeUmbro) October 3, 2025
...If El Segundo is down, Bencia is out and Wilmington is to follow, p66 is out by year end that’s 40% of the states throughput.
$10 GALLON GASOLINE HERE WE COME
Forty percent of the state's oil refining capacity gone.
BUT WAIT - THERE'S MORE!
You see, the oleaginous King of California has driven refiners out of the state, and, yup - another one leaves...*checks notes*...next month.
If the Chevron El Segundo refinery has to go offline for any amount of time, gas prices in CA, AZ, NV are going to soar.
— Jennifer Van Laar (@jenvanlaar) October 3, 2025
Another complication: Philipps 66's LA refinery is closing this month - in 2024 it represented 8% of the state's crude oil capacity pic.twitter.com/69MF3KNOKP
What happens if Chevron can't get El Segundo back into operation as Philipps pulls chocks and exits the pattern?
Will California even have enough gasoline to worry about the cost?
As of that moment, the answer is HARD NO.
$SOC
— TheDailyCompounder (@100xCompounding) October 3, 2025
Given planned refining outages by the beginning of 2026 California was going to be walking a tight rope with just a 6% buffer between refining capacity and daily consumption.
With Chevrons El Segundo out there will be a deficit of roughly 11% between the states needs…
...With Chevrons El Segundo out there will be a deficit of roughly 11% between the states needs daily and what the state can refine.
From a tiny 6% breathing room margin to an 11% hole, overnight. Only if nothing else happens.
HOLY CRAP
Oh, I can't wait to see how Greasy Gavin's clever little Millennial social media crew Xweets - in all caps - explains the massive suckage coming the state's way.
Best of luck blaming it on Trump.
Or something.
The Schumer Shutdown is here. Rather than put the American people first, Chuck Schumer and the radical Democrats forced a government shutdown for healthcare for illegals. They own this.
But we can't do it without you. Please help Ed, David, John, and me continue to report the truth about the Schumer Shutdown. Use promo code POTUS47 to get 74% off your VIP membership.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member