Thousands of people encounter power outage caused by refinery flare-off in Los Angeles area

A major power outage affected several South Bay cities in Los Angeles area Tuesday morning, which was triggered by a flare-off event at a refinery, according to officials.

The outage, reported just before 6 a.m. local time, knocked out power to thousands of customers in the area and led to a flare-off at the Torrance Refining Co., according to the Torrance police and fire departments.

The refinery was shut down and evacuated, said Torrance Fire Department Capt. Bob Millea.

A video from local media showed that the flaring was continuing into the 8 a.m.. Power appeared to be out at the refinery and in the areas surrounding the facility.

Two flare-offs took place at the refinery about a month ago, both related to electrical problems.

Shortly after Tuesday morning's event was triggered, the city of Torrance issued an emergency notification to residents.

"If you live in the area near the refinery, implement 'shelter in place' procedures," the city said. "Stay inside buildings, shut all doors and windows, turn off air conditioners, and turn off all air handling systems. You will be notified when there is a change in status. If you have a life threatening emergency, please dial 911." The shelter-in-place order was lifted about 7:30 a.m., Millea said.

However, the Torrance Unified School District declared Tuesday a "student free day," which means students stay home but staffers must report for work.

A flare-off is a safety procedure that refineries use "to relieve pressure and ensure gases are safely combusted to minimize releases to the atmosphere," according to the Torrance Fire Department.

According to Southern California Edison's website, the major electronic company, outages were reported in several South Bay cities at 5:41 a.m., including Hawthorne, Torrance, Gardena, Redondo Beach, and Manhattan Beach. And more than 102,000 customers were without power, according to Edison's website. Endit