County officials said that air-quality monitoring has not indicated any unsafe levels of volatile organic compounds in the area.
Monroe Energy officials also said that perimeter air monitoring results show no risk to community members at this time.
“The safety and health of the residents is paramount, and we are working closely with local emergency response officials and making all agency notifications to convey pertinent information to our community,” the company said in the statement.
William Govens saw the thick, black plume of smoke earlier Thursday from his home on Post Road across the street from the refinery.
“It was scary,” he said.
Smoke from the Monroe Energy petroleum refinery fire. (Courtesy of Frances Govens)
Govens didn’t receive any evacuation orders, he said, and couldn’t smell the smoke, which was blowing north away from his home.
He and his sister, Frances Govens, were planning to go grocery shopping Thursday afternoon, but were unable to leave because of the road closures.
“We just watched it, you know, wasn’t like there was any scents or bad fumes coming this way, it was just a heavy smoke, heavy black smoke kept pouring out from the back of that building over there,” William Govens said.
Frances Govens, left, and William Govens, right, said they saw thick, black smoke from the fire at the Monroe Energy refinery across the street from their home. (Sophia Schmidt/WHYY)
Frances Govens said that once the fire was controlled, they detected a smell “like rubber.”
“They would have given us a warning and told us we had to evacuate if it was real bad, so they didn’t do that, they would have given us a warning,” she said. “So we just [sat] out here and watched them pretty much put everything out.”
Company officials said they will investigate the cause of the fire.
Monroe Energy has nearly 500 employees and processes an average of 185,000 barrels per day. Products include jet fuel, gasoline, diesel fuel and home heating oil.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.