Fire crews extinguish blaze at Benicia port after 24 hours

A blaze that erupted near the Port of Benicia and burned for 24 hours was extinguished at midday Sunday, officials said, and the cause of the fire remained under investigation.

Benicia firefighters responding to a report of fire on Bayshore Drive near the Amports docks found flames engulfing the base of a silo filled with petroleum coke and a conveyor belt that runs up to ship tankers, fire officials said. Black and gray smoke billowed high into the air.

Firefighters worked through the night and contained the blaze by 9:40 a.m. Sunday, then extinguished it at 12:24 p.m., fire officials said.

The Benicia Fire Department was assisted by fire crews and boats from several Bay Area cities and counties, including San Francisco, Oakland, Napa County and as far away as Redwood City.

“The primary concern was the safety of the community,” especially from poor air quality due to particulate matter and potentially toxic chemicals released by the fire, Benicia Fire Chief Josh Chadwick said in a statement on Sunday.

Solano County’s Environment Health Services monitored the air throughout Saturday, city officials said, and did not detect harmful readings.

Benicia city officials also worked with California Fish and Wildlife and the U.S. Coast Guard to assess the fire’s environmental impact, and said that 3,000 feet of boom was being deployed Sunday to capture debris in the water.

The U.S. Coast Guard advised boaters to keep a safe distance from the Benicia Port Terminal and “all vessel traffic to slow down while transiting through the channel due to an unknown amount of debris in the water,” a city news release said Sunday.

Firefighters extinguished the fire at the base of the silos on Saturday, but struggled to reach the conveyor belt and a pier underneath it as flames spread below the conveyor, officials said. The pier was covered by thick asphalt road surface and had large timbers underneath that were coated in creosote, a flammable chemical material, Chadwick said.

On Sunday morning, construction crews used “a large crane to aid in trenching asphalt on the pier,” which helped firefighters gain access to the timber fire under the asphalt, fire and city officials said.

The port is used for multiple functions, Chadwick said: Oil tankers offload product to the refinery, which brings petroleum coke back down and loads it onto tankers. Vehicles arriving from overseas also are offloaded at the port.

City officials said they planned to work with the Valero Benicia Refinery and Amports “in the coming days” to help with “evaluating the integrity of the port, determine operational capacity and make preparations for repairs and reconstruction.”

Representatives with the Valero Benicia Refinery and Amports have not responded to a request for comment.