Black smoke coming from the Delaware City Refinery filled the skies over New Castle County Wednesday afternoon.
Shortly after 1:50 today an incident occurred at the refinery that caused firefighters from what is believed to be the refinery’s fire brigade to requested New Castle County Paramedics.
Just prior to that call readers from all across the county began reporting heavy smoke coming from the area of the refinery.
A quick look at the nearby DelDOT traffic camera confirmed that the refinery’s fire protection system had been activated.
Delaware State Police Aviation’s Trooper 4 responded to the scene as a result of the initial request for paramedics.
As crews worked to bring the fire under control the on-scene incident commander requested a second aviation unit. Within minutes a second Delaware State Police Helicopter with the call sign Trooper 5 arrived on-scene.
The two patients were transported to Christiana Hospital in critical condition, according to officials.
We are awaiting statements from the refinery and several government agencies. We will update this story as more information becomes available.
