Chevron has burn-off after hydrogen sulfide alarm goes off

PASCAGOULA -- The Chevron Pascagoula Refinery has been flaring hydrogen since early Friday and is expected to be burning off the gas throughout the evening Friday, according to a refinery spokesman.

Friday afternoon and evening the refinery, which is east and south of the city, had an unusually high flame coming out of burn-off stacks. The flame became more noticeable after dark.

At 7 p.m., one large stack was emitting a flame that appeared to shoot 50 to 75 feet into the air and could be seen clearly from Interstate 10.

Earl Etheridge, the Jackson County Emergency Management Director said Chevron advised him Friday evening that the refinery had had a hydrogen sulfide alarm going off inside the plant, but nothing was detected outside the grounds of the refinery.

"To be safe, they shut the area of the plant down and are burning off the waste gas until they can figure out what is wrong," Etheridge said.

Alan Sudduth, spokesman for Chevron in Mississippi, said the refinery has been monitoring air since early Friday.

"We conducted community air monitoring throughout the event and all readings were within normal ranges," Sudduth said at 8 p.m. "We're still flaring and probably will be throughout the evening."

This story was originally published November 13, 2015 at 8:47 PM with the headline "Chevron has burn-off after hydrogen sulfide alarm goes off ."