The last major accident to date at the Torrance oil refinery occurred a decade ago in 2015, when it was still being operated by ExxonMobil. Four workers were injured when a massive explosion destroyed the plant’s catalytic cracking unit and covered nearby cars and neighborhoods with ash and dust.
A year later, PBF Energy bought the troubled plant from ExxonMobil and renamed it the Torrance Refining Company. Since then, things have been relatively quiet at 3700 W. 190th St., in contrast to the refinery’s past litany of dangerous incidents.
Perhaps the darkest day in the refinery’s long history came on Monday, Dec. 3, 1979, 50 years after it first opened.
Just before 6 p.m. that evening, 19-year-old Cynthia Elizabeth Moore of Redondo Beach was driving her 1973 Camaro along Van Ness Ave., which borders the eastern edge of the 750-acre refinery property.
Moore, who worked at Gentry Travel Service’s Torrance office, had no way of knowing that an abnormally large cloud of highly flammable vapor had drifted out across Van Ness from overheated gas being moved into a fuel storage tank at the refinery.
The heavier-than-air vapors rolled along the ground, causing her car to stall. When she attempted to restart it, the ignition triggered the dense vapors to explode, engulfing her car in flames.
She ran from the burning car and collapsed a short distance from it. An ambulance crew spotted her on the ground and rushed her to Torrance Memorial Hospital Medical Center. Burned on 90 percent of her body, she died there the next day.
The burning car ignited the vapor cloud, sending a fireball racing back toward the storage tank.
The tank immediately exploded into flames, killing 57-year-old refinery worker Robert Mackinga of Hawthorne instantly. Mackinga was a World War II veteran who had worked at the refinery for 35 years.
Torrance resident Dick Love, 50, also was taken to Torrance Memorial, where he died the next day from burns received in the blast.
Mackinga, Love and 22-year-old Charles Stone had gone to the tank to investigate a strong odor emanating from it. Stone, who survived, told the Daily Breeze, “There was a mist on the roof like a fog. That’s when I knew something was wrong.”
Moments later, they heard what Stone called “a pop” and looked over to see Moore’s car on Van Ness engulfed in flames.
The explosion that followed literally blew the lid off the 50-foot-high tank estimated to be two-thirds full at the time, and the fire quickly spread to nearby tanks, sending flames and thick clouds of black smoke skyward.
The younger Stone was able to outrun the flames. He was treated for minor burns and smoke inhalation and released.
More than 200 nearby residents were evacuated, and the column of smoke could be seen from as far away as Hollywood.
More than a hundred firefighters from throughout the South Bay battled the stubborn refinery blaze, which finally burned itself out at about 2:45 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 5th. Evacuated residents were allowed to return, though streets in the area remained closed for several days after the blast and fire.
The death of Moore, the stepdaughter of Torrance police lieutenant Larry Robinson, resulted in a 1980 lawsuit against Mobil Oil Corp. The suit was filed by Robinson’s wife, Irma, and her ex-husband and Cynthia’s father, James Moore.
The trial began on Monday, Nov. 28, 1984. Mobil attorney Chris Gilman succeeded in thwarting the plaintiff’s attempts to make the company pay punitive damages, though considerable evidence was heard alleging the company’s negligence leading up to the accident.
Gilman argued that the explosion and blaze was just that, an accident. Judge John Shidler ruled in his favor, and no punitive damages were allowed
On Dec. 6, 1984, the jury voted to award Moore’s parents the sum of $503,400. Both sides expressed dissatisfaction with the outcome.
After the verdict was read, the trial ended and the courtroom emptied, Irma Moore told Daily Breeze reporter David Hall, “You know, the entire time, no one from Mobil ever said they were sorry.”
Sources:
Daily Breeze archives.
Torrance Refining Company website.
