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An oil tank fire sparked by lightning sent a plume of smoke over Lake Charles, Louisiana, on Saturday, which forced the authorities to issue evacuation and shelter orders for residents and businesses located in the area.
The Louisiana State Police determined that lightning was the cause of the fire from a tank at the Calcasieu Refining Co. tank farm in Lake Charles shortly before 2 p.m., according to authorities.
The company where the fire broke out refines crude oil, operates a pipeline and operates a barge transfer facility for petroleum products.
No injuries were reported in the incident.
Mandatory evacuations were in effect for those within 1.5 miles of the tank farmwhile the outer limits of a shelter-in-place order have been reduced from 5 miles to 3 miles, according to the Lake Charles Fire Department.
The fire was still burning around 10:00 p.m. Saturday local time, state police said.
Dick Gremillion, director of the Calcasieu Parish Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, told an NBC affiliate that about 70 residents of assisted living facilities were among those displaced.
A shelter has been opened at Burton Coliseum for people who have been forced to evacuate, Gremillion told the station.
Lightning streaked across the region as an unstable air front moved east and brought severe thunderstorms, hail and the threat of flash flooding, according to the National Weather Service on Saturday.
In a previous statement, the fire department described the fire as an “oil tank fire.”
Port director Ricky Self told KPLC the grounds were home to another fire on Thursday that may have started in an area where motor oil for company vehicles was stored.
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