Alameda County Fire Department firefighters were dispatched to the Newark site at 5:37 a.m. on March 29, according to fire department spokeswoman Aisha Knowles.

One of the Evergreen operators was executing a routine task and a heat exchanger failed, Knowles told Lube Report. So as a result of the heat exchanger failing, it released hydrocarbon, which caught on fire. It took under 15 minutes for firefighters to get the fire under control. One employee had an arm injury, she noted.

The heat from the fire caused a nearby fiberglass hydrochloric acid tank to melt and fail, she said. The fire departments hazardous materials team responded to the incident and worked with the Evergreen hazardous materials team to collect and contain the hydrochloric acid, Knowles added.

Were down because of the fire damage, Robert Gwaltney, Evergreen Oils vice president of refinery operations, told Lube Report. Gwaltney said it would be some time before the company could assess the dollar amount of damage that occurred. We are working with agencies to make sure were in compliance with all the requirements well need to meet, he said. Until were meeting all the regulatory requirements and finished doing the fire rebuild, we will not be back in operation.

Chemical Engineering Partners is an Irving, Calif.-based affiliate of Evergreen and is responsible for licensing the rerefining technology developed at the Evergreen facility to third parties. Mark Williams, CEP business development manager, said Evergreen is working with city and state agencies to make sure it is addressing any issues or questions they might have.

Everything is kind of on hold now until all of the investigations are done, Williams told Lube Report. On our own, were doing a phase one damage assessment. Basically, were methodically going through all the equipment associated with the fire to make sure everything is checked out. Well move on to starting repairs once weve addressed the issues with the agencies and the city, and once weve completed our assessment.

Williams emphasized that as of Monday, there have been no fines or citations issued to Evergreen Oil in regards to the March 29 incident. He also noted that the incident did not result in a release of anything dangerous into the atmosphere.