Flint Hills Refinery reports building fire

A small fire that broke out on Jan. 21 at Alaska’s largest crude oil refinery did not interrupt production and refining operations, officials said.

There were no injuries resulting from the fire at the Flint Hills Refinery in North Pole. It began in a service building near the processing unit and was quickly extinguished, said refinery spokesman Jeff Cook.

“Everything worked like it’s supposed to,” Cook said.

The refinery was required to notify the North Pole Fire Department and the Fairbanks North Star Borough Hazards Materials unit as a precaution, Cook said. The Fairbanks Fire Department was also called.

Cook said the origin and cause of the fire were still under “a very deliberate” investigation as of the afternoon of Jan. 21.

The Flint Hills Refinery produces petroleum products including gasoline, jet fuel, heating oil, diesel fuel and asphalt. It is a subsidiary of Kansas-based Koch Industries, Inc., and has a crude oil processing capacity of about 220,000 barrels per day.

—The Associated Press