Fire out and shelter-in-place order is lifted after oil refinery explosion near Texas coast

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An oil refinery fire near the Texas coast was put out Tuesday and a shelter-in-place order was lifted following air-quality testing, hours after a large explosion at the complex shot plumes of smoke into the air, officials said.

No one was injured in Monday’s explosion at the Valero refinery in Port Arthur, about 90 miles (145 kilometers) east of Houston, Carol Hebert, a Valero spokesperson, said in a statement.

“All personnel are accounted for,” Herbert said.

Images and video posted online show a large plume of smoke and flames billowing out from the refinery.

At Tuesday’s City Council meeting, Mayor Charlotte M. Moses said she was grateful the explosion wasn’t more serious.

“With something like that, we definitely could have had mass loss of life and injuries,” Moses said. “I’m just thankful and grateful that all we encountered was a fire ... We’re safe.”

She had urged residents in parts of the west side of the city to stay put during the shelter-in-place order.

Air monitoring that was done by Valero, the Port Arthur Fire Department and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality “confirmed there was no threat to air quality,” Hebert said.

“The cause of the fire is under investigation,” she said.

Residents at least several miles away said they felt their homes shake. Some schools in the area were closed Tuesday as a precaution.

AP AUDIO: Fire out and shelter-in-place order is lifted after oil refinery explosion near Texas coast

AP correspondent Haya Panjwani reports on a refinery fire in Texas.

The explosion comes amid a spike in gas prices driven by uncertainty over the global oil supply because of the Iran war.

The refinery has about 770 employees and can process about 435,000 barrels of oil per day, according to Valero’s website. The plant refines heavy sour crude oil into gasoline, diesel and jet fuel.

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Associated Press writer Juan A. Lozano contributed to this report.