Crime & Safety
Benicia Port Fire Extinguished; Water Clean-Up Efforts Underway
The four-alarm fire burned beneath a commercial pier for nearly 24 hours at Benicia Port.
BENICIA, CA — A four-alarm fire that burned beneath a commercial pier for nearly 24 hours at Benicia Port has been extinguished, and water clean-up efforts are underway, city officials said in a press release Sunday.
The fire, first reported at 12:20 p.m. Saturday, broke out in the 1000 block of Bayshore Drive, adjacent to the Amports port terminal. It was burning at the base of a petroleum coke silo, with flames traveling up a conveyer belt toward a docked tanker ship. (Petcoke is a carbon-rich solid derivative of oil refining, and coke dust is considered to be a combustible hazard.)
That portion of the fire was extinguished quickly, but flames underneath the pier were only accessible from the water.
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"The primary concern was the safety of the community," said Benicia Fire Chief Josh Chadwick. "The biggest potential threat to the community was air quality. The smoke emitting from the fire contained particulate matter and (could have been toxic) from chemicals. We were fortunate in having continuous wind blowing from the west, allowing the smoke to blow toward the water and dissipate before impacting other populated areas."
Solano County Environmental Health staff were at the fire Saturday performing mobile air monitoring, and at no time did they register harmful readings.
Find out what's happening in Beniciafor free with the latest updates from Patch.
The U.S. Coast Guard is advising boaters to be cautious and slow down due to an unknown amount of debris in the water. Workers on Sunday planned to deploy 3,000 feet of boom to help clean up the channel.
Fire crews responded from Solano, Napa and Contra Costa counties, and fire boats came from San Francisco, Oakland, Port Chicago, Southern Marin, Tiburon and Redwood City.
The Solano County Fire Investigation Unit is working to determine the cause
of the fire.
The city will then work with Valero and Amports on port repairs and reconstruction efforts.
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