A fire broke out aboard a decommissioned oil platform off the coast of Southern California, forcing the evacuation of 26 workers and prompting a large-scale emergency response.
The blaze erupted shortly after 7 a.m. on the Habitat platform, an inactive oil rig located roughly 7.8 miles offshore from Carpinteria. According to the U.S. Coast Guard, crews were conducting decommissioning operations aboard the aging structure when a gas leak ignited on the platform.
Rescue vessels and firefighting crews from Ventura and Santa Barbara counties converged on the site as thick black smoke rose from the steel structure. All 26 workers were safely evacuated within hours, though two people suffered minor injuries during the incident, Coast Guard officials said.
A Coast Guard spokesperson told local media that workers managed to shut a critical safety valve shortly after the fire began, cutting off the flow of leaking gas and preventing the flames from spreading further through the platform.
By approximately 11 a.m., emergency officials declared the situation stabilized, though fireboats continued spraying water across portions of the platform as a precaution. Authorities also established a 1,000-yard safety perimeter around the site while investigators assessed potential environmental impacts.
No evidence of an active oil spill or broader danger to nearby coastal communities has been reported.
As of Monday afternoon, personnel are being transferred onto the platform to conduct safety work, the Coast Guard said.
Owned and operated by DCOR LLC, a Oxnard, Calif., Habitat has stood in the Santa Barbara Channel for more than four decades. Built in 1981, the platform began producing oil and natural gas in 1983 under federal leases managed by the Department of the Interior. Records from the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement show the lease expired in 2016, and the structure has since been undergoing decommissioning.
