LOS ANGELES >> A fire that erupted at the largest oil refinery on the West Coast threatened storage tanks while sending huge flames into the sky and black smoke across California neighborhoods before crews quickly smothered it.

Dozens of firefighters responded late in the evening on Oct. 17 to the 1,000-acre Chevron El Segundo Refinery just south of Los Angeles, which processes nearly 275,000 barrels of crude oil a day.

Nearby residents were urged to close windows and stay inside. Streets were briefly closed, but no evacuations were ordered and no injuries were reported.

Crews using firefighting foam kept the blaze from spreading to storage tanks. Within a half-hour, few flames were visible.

Chevron officials did not immediately respond to requests for information today on the cause of the blaze and the extent of damage.

Petroleum industry analyst Patrick DeHaan said initial information indicates the fire was unlikely to affect gas prices.

DeHaan, a senior analyst with Gas Buddy, said the El Segundo facility was not running at full capacity at the time of the fire because it had shuttered most operations for semi-annual preventative maintenance.

Chevron was fined nearly $1 million by the state of California for a major fire in 2012 at a refinery in the San Francisco Bay Area.

The El Segundo refinery supplies 40 percent of the jet fuel used at nearby Los Angeles International Airport and has 20 percent of the market for gasoline in Southern California, according the company’s website.

Daily production includes 110,000 barrels of gasoline and 100,000 barrels of jet and diesel fuels. Other products include fuel oils, coke and liquefied petroleum gas.

About 1,100 Chevron employees and 300 contract employees work at the refinery.

The facility dates to 1911 and was the second refinery built in California by Chevron predecessor Standard Oil Co.