4 injured after refinery explosion in Southern California

A large explosion rocked the Exxon Mobile refinery in Torrance, California, Wednesday morning, injuring four workers and causing the equivalent of a magnitude 1.7 earthquake.

Torrance Fire Capt. Steve Deuel told the Los Angeles Times the incident could have been caused by a petroleum product leak. Following the explosion, area residents and schoolchildren were told to stay inside, and the four workers were taken to an area hospital for minor injuries. A smoke advisory was issued by the South Coast Air Quality Management District, and Exxon said the air was being monitored to detect harmful air emissions.

The blast also caused a ground fire, which was quickly extinguished. A section of the refinery was damaged by the explosion and fire, but the facility, which processes an average of 155,000 barrels of crude oil daily and produces 1.8 billion gallons of gasoline annually, is still up and running. "We can't just shut a refinery down," Deuel told the Times.

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