Richmond Power Outages: Richmond High Shutdown; Chevron Refinery Flaring
RICHMOND (CBS SF) -- Power outages early Wednesday forced officials to shut down Richmond High School for the day and triggered flaring in the stacks at the nearby Chevron Richmond refinery, officials said.
PG&E spokesman J.D. Guidi said crews were en route and there is no estimate for when power will be restored. He said the cause of the outage is under
investigation.
Richmond High closed today due to power outage. @PGE4Me working on the problem. We will update as soon as we can. @BaysidePTAs @rhsoilers @CA_Richmond @RichmonStandard @RF_Richmond @riconfidential
— West Contra Costa Unified School District (@WCCUSD) March 6, 2019
Earlier in the morning, the Chevron Richmond refinery reported ongoing flaring that prompted the company to issue a warning to residents in the area.
The flaring was first reported around 6:20 a.m. and Chevron officials said it was due to a power outage that impacted refinery process units.
The warning issued was "Level 1" on the Community Warning System, considered the lowest on the scale and indicating no offsite environmental or public health impacts.
Company officials were not immediately available for comment, but in a statement said the flares are highly regulated safety devices designed to relieve pressure during refinery processes and helps keep their equipment and plants operating safely.
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