Powerful Explosion, Blaze Hit Torrance Refinery; 2 Injured

An explosion ripped through a Mobil Oil Co. refinery in Torrance with earthquake-like force Tuesday, spewing balls of flame and metal about 300 feet into the early evening sky and blowing out the windows of several nearby homes.

Despite the force of the blast--at 190th Street and Crenshaw Boulevard--which was felt several miles away, there were only two injuries to plant employees reported.

One unidentified man suffered a minor eye wound and was treated at the 730-acre refinery. The other, Michael Trento Jr., 23, of West Covina, was hospitalized with breathing problems and minor wounds sustained in the blast.

Homes Evacuated

About 40 homes on 190th Street across from the refinery were evacuated for a time, but authorities said the fire was isolated to the immediate area of the blast. The flames, although fierce, were contained at the plant by 7:30 p.m. by 150 firefighters from several South Bay cities and the Los Angeles Fire Department.

Torrance Fire Marshal Denny Haas said a break in a high-pressure line of unsaturated fuel--mostly propane and butane gas--in an alkylation unit apparently set off the blast at 5:50 p.m. He and other fire investigators said results of a preliminary investigation on what caused the rupture would not be ready until today or Thursday.

The blast startled residents, workers and motorists. Traffic on 190th Street immediately detoured onto Crenshaw to escape the searing heat. A witness said some motorists in the eastbound lanes of 190th Street made “incredibly illegal” turns to get out of the area.

Some people in the area thought it was an earthquake.

‘Happened So Fast’

A resident of 190th Street, Louis Rodriguez, was watching television at the time.

“At first, I thought it was an earthquake. But when I went outside and saw the huge flames, I knew what it was,” he said. “It all happened so fast.”

Office worker Jim Smart said the blast generated a “vicious-looking fire. I was looking right out the window (at the refinery) when it happened. It shook my building something bad.”

Another resident of 190th Street, Lucy Solis, was standing at her living room window with her daughter. “ ‘Oh my God, what was that?’ I asked myself” when the explosion hit, she said. “We thought someone was shooting at us.”

At Torrance City Hall, the City Council meeting went on as scheduled, but only after council members watched the inferno from third-floor windows. Since the meetings are televised on local cable systems, viewers were urged to stay away from the vicinity of the fire.

Late Tuesday, firefighters were planning to try to cut the fuel in the ruptured lines in order to halt the flames.

Initially, six of the 50 refinery workers on the job at the time of the explosion were reported missing, but they were later accounted for.

Trento was admitted to Little Company of Mary Hospital in Torrance with smoke inhalation and injuries sustained in the blast.

He told authorities that he was knocked down by the blast, but was able to get up almost immediately. He said he ran, jumped a fence and went to the nearby home of a friend, where he called the Fire Department to report the blast. His friend took him to the hospital.

Mobil officials at the scene discounted any suggestion that the blast might be linked to labor talks that have recently begun.

“There is nothing there at all,” said Thomas Gregory, manager of safety and training at the refinery.

Jim Carbonetti, West Coast public relations manager for Mobil, said the rest of the plant has been shut down as a precautionary measure as a result of the blast. It will remain closed until the cause of the blast has been determined, he said.

Earlier Explosions

The refinery, built in 1929, has been the scene of other explosions. In 1979, two blasts hit it. One explosion in a unit that separates liquefied petroleum gas from gasoline, injured five in September. Later that year, three people died in a Dec. 4 explosion in a gasoline storage tank.

Earlier this month, the South Coast Air Quality Management District cited the refinery as a public nuisance after hydrogen sulfide emissions sparked numerous complaints of an odor of rotten eggs in the area. It was the sixth time in less than two years that the refinery had been cited by the agency because of odor problems.

According to papers filed with the AQMD in January, 1986, the refinery processes 130,000 barrels of crude oil per day, producing 65,000 barrels of gasoline and 4,000 barrels of jet fuel daily.

Times staff writers Adrianne Goodman, Carolene Langie, Jeffrey L. Rabin, George Ramos, Sebastian Rotella, Larry Stammer, Curtis L. Taylor and Bob Williams contributed to this article.