Crime & Safety

Newark Residents React to Evergreen Oil Fire

Evergreen Oil spokesman says Newark plant operations will not resume until inspectors confirm conditions are safe following a two-alarm fire Tuesday.

While Evergreen Oil Refinery and Cal/OSHA continue their joint investigation into a Newark plant fire that sent one employee to the hospital with an arm injury Tuesday morning, residents who live down the street near  say they were surprised by all the media coverage.

They added they are worried about the fire but still feel safe about living in their neighborhood.

In a residential area located less than half a mile from the plant, Alicia Tomas said she saw the flames as she drove home from working at

Find out what's happening in Newarkwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“I saw all the firefighters and the really big flames,” Tomas said as her sister, Monica, translated from Spanish. “Police told me I had to turn around on Cherry and take an alternate route on Mowry.”

On another block lined by single-story homes and well-maintained lawns, Cindy Decker said she heard the choppers flying over her neighborhood.

Find out what's happening in Newarkwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“There were lots of cameras down the street,” Decker said. “We saw some kids who were trying to be on TV.”

According to Decker, she’s used to seeing fire trucks moving down Smith Avenue because of other accidents at nearby plants.

“It’s no big deal to see a fire truck down there,” Decker said. “But when you see all those fire trucks and the lights flashing, you know something’s going on.”

Alameda County firefighters received calls about the two-alarm fire at the plant on 6880 Smith Avenue around 5:30 a.m. Alameda County fire spokeswoman Aisha Knowles says Evergreen Oil and Cal/OSHA are now trying to figure out the cause of the fire.

Plant Shuts Temporarily

Plant Manager Bob Gwaltney says the Newark plant will remain shut down until the company’s emergency response team confirms conditions are safe for all.

“We will not start up operations until we are sure it is safe to do so,” Gwaltney said.

Cal/OSHA spokeswoman Krisann Chasarik said her agency will also see if anything could have been done to prevent the employee’s injury.

According to Chasarik, a February 2007 investigation of Evergreen Oil led to the discovery of 19 health and safety violations. Chasarik said the state agency fined the company $5,095.

The violations were not specific to the refinery industry and included infractions related to respiratory hazards, guardrails, confined space and emergency eye-washing stations, Chasarik said.

City manger John Becker said the city is aware of dozens of complaints from neighbors about odor issues from Evergreen Oil.

“We’ve been working with representatives from Evergreen Oil,” Becker said. “There have been a number of odor releases here. The business has been fined. We’ve been working with management to get to the bottom of what is causing this (odor releases).”

According to Becker, Newark citations add up to more than $4,000 in fines. So far, city officials believe Tuesday’s fire and the odor complaints are not related, said Becker. At this time, he added, investigators do not believe there’s a connection between yesterday’s fire and another plant fire in May.

Neighbors and Schools

As their little boys poked toys through the front yard’s gate, Monica and Alicia Tomas said their family has been living in Newark for about two years. The sisters say they have smelled some type of odor drifting from the direction of the Smith Avenue plant.

“There are a lot of companies over there and we don’t know where the smell is coming from,” Monica Tomas said. “Still, we feel safe here.”

Cindy Decker said her family has been living in Newark since 1997. Decker says her family is also aware of strange odors from the plants operating on Smith Avenue.

“With all the places back there, you don’t know what that smell is or where it’s from,” Decker said. “You also smell the bay, sewer and whatever else they have back there.”

According to Decker, there were several parents watching the police and fire activity this morning. Some wanted to know if they should still send their kids to school at Bunker Elementary, which is located more than half a mile away from the Evergreen plant.

School continued as usual after Alameda County firefighters told Bunker Elementary and  staff members that the fire and smoke did not post a danger to the area Tuesday morning.

students and sisters Mandy and Sandy Kuar said they found out about the fire during the school’s morning announcement.

“We saw the police cars and heard the helicopters but we didn’t know what was going on,” Mandy Kaur said. “We were worried.”

“They made an announcement in school that there was a fire at Evergreen and that everybody was safe,” Sandy Kaur said.

Jae Kim said he didn’t expect to wake up to this type of emergency when he moved to the neighborhood a year ago.

“The street was packed with cars but it looked like everything was under control,” Kim said. “There were a lot of cops. They made sure the community was safe.”

Bay City News contributed to this report


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

To request removal of your name from an arrest report, submit these required items to arrestreports@patch.com.

More from Newark