Complaints of ‘oily refinery smell’ preceded Martinez blast by hours, air district reports

The Bay Area Air District began getting complaints about odor coming from Martinez Refinery Company hours before a fire started earlier this month.

In an incident report posted on its website, the district said it got its first complaint nearly three hours before the fire started — at approximately 10:45 a.m. on Feb. 1 — about an “oily refinery smell” in Martinez. It received a second odor complaint at 11:56 a.m., also about the refinery. It received a third complaint at 1:05 p.m. About an “oil and gas smell.”