photo credit: Ray Saint Germain
A raccoon allegedly broke into the Martinez Refining Company and caused a power interruption that resulted in last week’s flaring at the refinery.
The company said in an incident report to the Contra Costa Health Services’ Hazardous Materials Programs that the masked marauder got into a refinery substation on Dec. 22, causing the substation to suffer a three-phase fault in a capacitor bank and a breaker to open “that resulted in a loss of equipment across the refinery.”
The power interruption resulted in seven minutes of flaring.
The report acknowledged that the initial required report to the county was “made outside the 15-minute requirement for initial notification,” due to personnel using the wrong time on the first notification, which it said was corrected.
The required 72-hour report, dated Dec. 23, came a day after the incident. The refinery said it’s investigating why the time mistake was made and will take “corrective actions.”
The report didn’t say what happened to the raccoon.
31 comments
Straight to prison for that raccoon terrorizing the public like that.And a one million dollar fine.
Well, if you were just wondering why the raccoon smells kinda funny……
Yeah and my dog ate my homework
Liars.
Ah, guys correction factor components are supposed to be protected. Fence buried into the ground. With that much current it was instantly over cooked.
They’re probably interrogating the raccoon.
Rocky Raccoon stepped into a boom.
Sounds like the new definition of the dog ate my homework excuse.
That is what l was most interested in, what happened to the raccoon?
Dead/fried I am sure.
They tried to identify him, but couldn’t because of his mask 🙂
Don’t they check credentials at the gate? Obviously this squirrel was working for Al-Qaeda.
There is already a second raccoon conspiracy theory. It is not credible that a single raccoon acting alone could have done this. And note how authorities have now stopped providing information,
It takes at least two raccoons to use a bolt cutter….
roasted raccoon is what’s for dinner
Unacceptable. How could a raccoon cause a serious disruption in a refinery? If a raccoon could do this, could a squirrel? Could a rat?
What steps have been taken to prevent a repeat incident?
Repeat offenders are usually given harsher penalties for each occurrence. Should the refineries be treated any different?
I want the story on how this went down.
That sounds like an excuse I’d come up with when drunk for something that happened outside. It wasn’t me, it was a racoon that did it!
The Clampetts just had relatives over for Granny’s special Christmas time supper, Stuffed Coon Roast with all the trimin’s….”Whew doggies, mitey fine vittles.”
At least the racoon was wearing a mask
if it was a raccoon, an electrical fault would have “smoke checked ” the critter.
.
Bzzzzzzt!
I guess the raccoon alarm malfunctioned. So much for maintenance.
I thought wearing a mask was supposed to save us?
The feckless, corrupt and worthless BAAQMD will believe it. Period.
I love the first line…a raccoon “allegedly”…innocent until proven guilty. I hope they find the bandit and provide a description so we can keep a lookout.
sad for the raccoon, if true.
I used to work in the refinery. There are all kinds of wild life living within the fences. Deer, Fox, Raccoons, Water Birds, etc. It is a wonderful refuge for them.
With that being said, there is a price to pay. Sometimes they get where they are not needed or wanted. Then problems happen. Unfortunately, the county and state have their regulations and raccoons and other wild life do not fit within their parameters.
“Breaking News: Planned Maintenance Flaring at Martinez Refinery
Last updated: December 30, 2022, 3:28 pm
Contra Costa Health (CCH) has been notified by Martinez Refining Company that planned maintenance work at its facility will cause continuous flaring visible to the surrounding community throughout the week of January 2, and potential intermittent flaring throughout the remainder of the month.”
CCH will closely monitor activity at the refinery and notify the public if the flaring results in any offsite health impact to the community.
Visit cchealth.org/hazmat for real-time information regarding flaring at the facility.
The refinery is now covered–planned maintenance through the month of January!
It’s true folks…I work there. Unfortunately this raccoons fur was fried and it was hobbling. I don’t know if it survived much long afterwards.
I didn’t need to know that.
Voltages on those capacitor banks are substantial not 110 Vac like your Christmas lights.
https://tinyurl.com/9bhd3deu
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