Lightning sparks fire at Texas refinery

TEXAS CITY, Texas — Lightning sparked a fire Thursday at a Valero oil refinery here, emergency officials said.

Lightning hit a transformer at the Valero (VLO) refinery at about 7 a.m. CT as storms moved inland from the Gulf of Mexico, Texas Emergency Management officials said. They say the plume of smoke is not hazardous to the surrounding community of almost 50,000 residents but have told them to avoid the area.

No injuries have been reported and the Texas City Fire Department said it would allow the fire to burn itself out. A black smoke plume could be seen coming from burning transformer oil.

Refinery personnel were conducting air monitoring along the unit’s fence line, Valero spokesman Steve Lee said. The refinery, which opened in 1908, sits near Galveston Bay about 40 miles southeast of Houston and employs almost 500 people.

Lightning also caused an oil storage tank fire near Crystal Beach, Texas, about 65 miles southeast of Houston and 15 miles northeast of Galveston, Texas, authorities said.

Showers and thunderstorms in the Houston area could linger through Friday, according to the National Weather Service.

Contributing: The Associated Press