A power outage at a Valero Energy Corp refinery and the resulting smoke forced residents to remain indoors in the San Francisco Bay city of Benicia, California on Friday.
The dense, black smoke was the result of the refinery flaring off hydrocarbons it could not process normally. It caused traffic to back up on Interstate 680 and forced evacuations from nearby businesses, according to local news media reports.
Valero said the 145,500 barrel-per-day refinery lost its power supply from Pacific Gas & Electric on Friday morning, forcing it to use the flare system.
The Benicia Police Department ordered residents to shelter in place and evacuations from businesses downwind of the refinery.
