BLACK smoke was billowing out of Esso in Fawley this morning after a fire put the steam plant out of action.
At about 7.30am a fire started in the steam plant at the oil refinery. It meant the refinery was unable to steam the flare, resulting in lots of black smoke.
Nobody was injured in the incident and Esso did not need to evacuate the plant or warn the local community to stay indoors.
A spokesman for Esso said: "There was a small fire in the steam plant, which has resulted in a lot of flaring and a lot of black smoke.
"But the main alarm that warns the local community to stay indoors and shut windows did not need to be sounded.
"Our own in-house fire response team dealt with the fire and extinguished it.
"We are now working on getting the steam plant stabilised as, at the moment, the steam plant is unable to put steam to the flare so the result is the black smoke.
"The cause of the fire and the damage it caused is now also being investigated."
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