Chevron Refinery Blaze Contained

Panic stroke as fire grappled one of the California's largest oil refinery during early hours on Monday. Sending flames as high as 100 feet into the air, fire at Chevron Richmond refinery ablazed at 5:15 a.m. local time.

Starting from the refinery's No. 4 crude unit, the fire burned for nearly nine hours before dying out by itself at 2:10 p.m. local time and is not expected to have impact on the production of gasoline and other fuels, officials said.

The refinery area is off the scenic San Francisco Bay to the east of San Francisco and northwest of Berkeley and Oakland.

Commenting on the incident, company spokesman Dean O'Hair said, "We don't expect this event to affect the current production plan at the refinery, since the crude unit was at the beginning of a planned maintenance cycle."

While both the cause of the incident and the full extent of the damage are still unknown, the fire injured only one worker who was discharged after first aid.

Meanwhile, concerned over public health, county officials issued early warnings ordering Richmond residents to remain indoors to avoid inhaling pollutants released into the air. Also, residents were instructed to turn off heating and other ventilation systems and turn on a radio, television or computer for updates.

However, three hours later the warnings were lifted when air examination around Richmond found no stances of toxicity.

Having a production capacity of 243,000 barrels per day, the 100 year old Chevron Richmond refinery produces cleaner burning gasoline and diesel along with jet and other fuels.

Following Irving, Texas-based Exxon Mobil Corp, Chevron is the second-biggest U.S. oil company.