Truck Driver Injured In Carson Oil Refinery Explosion, Blaze

CARSON (CBSLA) – A truck driver was hurt in an explosion and subsequent fire at an oil refinery storage facility in Carson early Monday morning.

The incident was reported at 5:45 a.m. at the Kinder Morgan Terminals in the 2000 block of East Sepulveda Boulevard.

An explosion occurred while jet fuel was being loaded onto a tanker truck, which then sparked a fire, according to the Los Angeles County Fire Department.

Thick, black smoke from the fire could be seen from miles around.

The terminal was evacuated. More than 100 firefighters used foam and water to get the blaze under control by 7 a.m.

One truck driver was rushed to a hospital with minor burns. No one else was hurt

"There's literally millions of gallons of flammable liquid here on this property, and all these adjacent properties down here," LACFD Capt. Tony Imbrenda said. "Any time you have any kind of active fire, vapors explosion, anything like that, highly hazardous down here."

There was no word on what exactly may have caused the explosion.

"There's static electricity that's generated, that could be a cause," Imbrenda explained. "Whenever you're moving hydrocarbons through any type of vessel or piping, there's the potential for ignitions."