Residents of Crockett and Rodeo are being asked to shelter in place this afternoon after a malfunction at the Phillips 66 refinery in Rodeo forced operators to shut down a sulfur facility. A Contra Costa County fire department spokeswoman said the county's community warning system sirens have been activated and anyone who can hear them should follow the instructions for the shelter-in-place procedure. A spokeswoman said a controlled burn inside the sulfur facility sent a highly visible plume of dark smoke that was drifting east along the Sacramento River from the refinery at midafternoon today. "They had to get rid of product and that's what is burning,'' she said. Lucia Libretti, a spokeswoman for the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, said the incident is causing "extensive flaring'' at the refinery, resulting in black smoke and possibly an odor. She said air district inspectors are responding to the scene. (from the sfgate.com site)
There was a Rodeo fire in Arizona, now this. Spanish for corral.