Crews douse fire at Wash.'s largest oil refinery

Fire crews have doused a dramatic blaze that broke out Friday at Washington's largest oil refinery, sending up towering flames and creating a thick plume of black smoke visible for miles.

Workers at the BP Cherry Point refinery near Blaine were evacuated shortly after the fire started at about 2:30 p.m. in a tower on the refinery's south side. BP spokesman Scott Dean says the fire was out 90 minutes later.

The Bellingham Herald reports that about 100 evacuated workers gathered in a parking lot to watch the flames.

Dean says all employees are safe and accounted for.

Dean couldn't say what the tower is normally used for or what it contained.

There was no immediate word on the cause of the fire or the extent of damage.

The one-square-mile refinery employs more than 800 people and can process as much as 230,000 barrels of crude oil a day from Alaska.

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