Photo above: The Martinez refinery in July 2021, before the February 2025 fire. JPxG, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
You can, but only after you’ve read the record for that refinery and that street. The Martinez refinery had a major fire on February 1, 2025, a series of releases before it, and a $10 million air penalty in 2026, and it’s running at full rates again, so treat it as a real factor and check the facts yourself.
Below is what happened, what the official investigations found, and a short checklist for any Martinez address.
What is the Martinez refinery?
It’s the Martinez Refining Company, owned by PBF Energy. PBF says the plant can process 157,000 barrels of crude a day (PBF Energy, January 2, 2026 update). The company says the site covers 860 acres with 35 process units, was first built in 1915, and was bought from Shell in 2020 (Martinez Refining Company website, checked September 24, 2026). Those are the company’s own figures.
The company lists its address as 3485 Pacheco Boulevard (Martinez Refining Company website, checked September 24, 2026). The Air District describes the site as sitting partly in the City of Martinez and partly in unincorporated Contra Costa County (Air District news release, February 19, 2026).
What happened in the February 2025 fire?
A leak during maintenance caught fire and burned for days. Here is the county’s timeline for Saturday, February 1, 2025 and after (Contra Costa Health, Illustrated Timeline of Fire and Response; JEM Advisors final investigation report, September 12, 2025):
- About 1:35 p.m. Two contract workers opened a flange on a unit that was shut down for maintenance. Hydrocarbon leaked out and caught fire within a minute.
- 1:49 p.m. The refinery issued a Level 2 alert. The county issued a health advisory for people in Martinez with respiratory sensitivity and sent a hazardous materials team to monitor the air.
- 2:32 p.m. Based on the smoke leaving the plant, the advisory area grew to all of Martinez, parts of Pacheco, and Clyde.
- 4:48 p.m. As smoke came down to ground level, the county raised the alert to Level 3, ordered shelter in place for zones near the plant, and sounded sirens.
- 9:12 p.m. Air quality improved, the shelter-in-place order was lifted, and the alert dropped back to Level 2. The advisory for people with respiratory sensitivity stayed in place.
- Tuesday, February 4, 2025. The fire was put out, and the health advisory was lifted at 3:00 p.m.
The investigator’s report says six workers were checked by medical staff and released, and none were hospitalized.
What did the official investigations find?
The county hired three outside firms. Here is what each one reported:
- Cause (JEM Advisors). The workers opened a flange on the wrong side of an isolation valve. The root cause was that the refinery’s monitoring and control of work was not adequate for its maintenance contractor’s capability (final report, September 12, 2025).
- Soil (TRC). TRC reported the release did not increase risk to public health from hazardous metals in the soil (county MRC 2025 Fire page, checked September 24, 2026).
- Whole plant (ERG). The county posted a draft full facility audit of the refinery’s safety management dated June 15, 2026. Public comment ran from June 17 to July 31, 2026, with a public meeting on July 1 (county 45-day public notice). When we checked on September 24, 2026, the county’s MRC 2025 Fire page listed only the draft. No final version was posted.
The Air District also sampled air north of the plant during the fire. The county’s February 12, 2025 summary says benzene and 1,2,4-trimethylbenzene came in above normal levels in those samples. On May 1, 2025, the Air District issued 18 notices of violation for the fire and called the investigation ongoing (Air District news release, May 1, 2025).
What penalties has the refinery paid?
Two cases have closed. A third, for the fire, is still open.
- $10 million, February 2026. The Contra Costa District Attorney and the Air District won a $10 million penalty plus $600,000 for community projects, with a final judgment signed February 18, 2026. It covers 163 notices of violation from early 2020 to late 2024, including the Thanksgiving 2022 spent catalyst release, flaring, odors downtown and coke dust leaving the site. It does not cover the 2025 fire, which the Air District is handling in a separate case (Air District news release, February 19, 2026).
- $20,000, December 2025. The Air District fined the refinery over its fenceline air monitoring plan and required it to share real-time and past monitoring data with the public (Air District news release, December 23, 2025).
The fire case has no posted result. The Air District’s February 19, 2026 release says it is handling the fire in a separate enforcement action, and we found no later Air District release announcing an outcome when we checked on September 24, 2026. PBF’s own quarterly report for the period ending June 30, 2026 says the Air District, the county and several state and federal agencies are still investigating, and that any penalties are unknown (PBF Energy, Form 10-Q, second quarter 2026).
Is the refinery running again?
Yes. PBF says the restart was completed in May 2026 and the plant returned to full operations in the second quarter (PBF Energy, second quarter 2026 results, July 30, 2026). Upsets still happen while it runs. During the restart period, on January 26, 2026, an electrical upset caused about an hour of flaring and sulfur dioxide odors offsite, and the refinery reported a Level 1 alert (Martinez Refining Company 72-hour report to the county, January 2026).
How do I check a Martinez address near the refinery?
Five steps. Do them before your contingencies run out.
- Register for CWS alerts. The Community Warning System is the county’s official emergency alert system. It can call, text and email you, and alert calls may show caller ID 925-655-0195. Register at cwsalerts.com (Contra Costa County CWS site, checked September 24, 2026).
- Learn the sirens. The county has 43 sirens around industrial sites from Richmond to Antioch. They are tested the first Wednesday of every month at 11:00 a.m., with a quieter growl test on other Wednesdays at 11:00 a.m. If one sounds outside a test: go inside, shut windows and doors, turn off fans, and listen for instructions (CWS, Sirens and Refineries page, checked September 24, 2026).
- Read the county file. The fire district’s Martinez Refining Company oversight page at cccfpd.org posts incident reports, audits and inspection results. It has a sign-up for update emails too.
- Report what you notice. Smell something or see smoke? Call the Air District’s 24-hour complaint line at 1-800-334-6367 (Air District, Report an Air Pollution Complaint page, checked September 24, 2026). For an emergency, call 911.
- Read the disclosures. Get the Natural Hazard Disclosure report and the seller’s disclosures, and look for anything about odors, noise, dust or nearby industry.
Then spend time on the street: a weekday morning, an evening, and a weekend. Notice the wind and the sound.
Can living near the refinery affect my health?
That question belongs with a doctor, not a real estate agent. We don’t give health advice. Talk to your doctor, or contact the county’s hazardous materials program through cccfpd.org, and read the county’s own reports on the fire. What we can do is help you find every public record tied to the address.
Will the refinery change what a Martinez home is worth?
We won’t predict that, and we found no official study that measures it. When we price a home or help you write an offer, we look at recent sales of similar homes nearby. Those sales already show what buyers there are paying with the refinery where it is.
Questions people also ask
When was the Martinez refinery fire?
The fire started on Saturday, February 1, 2025, at about 1:35 p.m., and was put out on Tuesday, February 4, 2025. The county ordered shelter in place for zones near the plant at 4:48 p.m. on February 1 and lifted it at 9:12 p.m. that night. The health advisory ended February 4, per the county timeline.
What caused the Martinez refinery fire?
The county’s independent investigator, JEM Advisors, found that contract workers opened a flange on the wrong side of an isolation valve, releasing hydrocarbon that ignited within a minute. Its September 12, 2025 final report names the root cause as inadequate monitoring and control of contractor work by the refinery.
What is the address of the Martinez refinery?
The company lists the Martinez Refining Company at 3485 Pacheco Boulevard, Martinez, CA 94553, on its website, checked September 24, 2026. The Bay Area Air District’s February 19, 2026 release describes the site as partly in the City of Martinez and partly in unincorporated Contra Costa County.
How do I get alerts about the Martinez refinery?
Register with the county’s Community Warning System at cwsalerts.com. It is free and can reach you by call, text or email, and alert calls may show 925-655-0195. The county’s 43 sirens are tested the first Wednesday of each month at 11:00 a.m., per the CWS site, checked September 24, 2026.
Your next step
Looking at a home near Pacheco Boulevard or downtown? Send us the address. We’ll pull the nearby sales, the alert history and the disclosure documents and walk through them with you. Ask a Martinez agent on our team or call (510) 949-5525.
More on Martinez: Is Martinez, CA a good place to live? · Things to do in Martinez · What’s my home worth?
By Bill Davis, DRE #01880656, The Davis Team at eXp Realty, Martinez, CA. Updated September 24, 2026.
Sources
- Contra Costa County Fire Protection District, Martinez Refining Company (MRC) Oversight and MRC 2025 Fire pages: cccfpd.org (checked September 24, 2026)
- Contra Costa Health, Illustrated Timeline of Fire and Response, February 2025 (posted on the county MRC 2025 Fire page)
- JEM Advisors, Final Report, Independent Incident Investigation and Root Cause Analysis of the February 1, 2025 fire, revised September 12, 2025 (county MRC 2025 Fire page)
- ERG, Full Facility Audit and Management Systems Evaluation of MRC, draft for public comment, June 15, 2026, and the county’s 45-day public notice (county MRC 2025 Fire page)
- Contra Costa Health, What the Air District’s Air Sampling Results Mean, February 12, 2025 (county MRC 2025 Fire page)
- Martinez Refining Company, 72-hour follow-up report for the January 26, 2026 incident (county MRC 2025 Fire page)
- Bay Area Air District news releases: May 1, 2025 (18 notices of violation), December 23, 2025 (fenceline monitoring), February 19, 2026 ($10 million settlement): baaqmd.gov
- Bay Area Air District, Report an Air Pollution Complaint page: baaqmd.gov (checked September 24, 2026)
- PBF Energy, Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2026, Martinez refinery incident disclosure: sec.gov (checked September 24, 2026)
- PBF Energy, Martinez refinery update, January 2, 2026, and second quarter 2026 results, July 30, 2026 (SEC Form 8-K exhibits): sec.gov
- Martinez Refining Company website: martinezrefiningcompany.com (checked September 24, 2026)
- Contra Costa County Community Warning System, home and Sirens and Refineries pages: cwsalerts.com (checked September 24, 2026)