According to Joseph Israel, chief operating officer for Alon USA, the company that owns the local refinery, the incident was reported at approximately 8:45 p.m. Monday.

“There was an incident at the Big Spring Refinery around 8:45 p.m. Monday, involving a boiler,” said Israel in a prepared statement this morning. “Three employees were taken to the hospital and released.”

According to Alon USA public relations spokeman Blake Lewis, at least one of the three men injured was airlifted from the scene, but only as a precaution.

“He was treated and released, just like the other two employees,” said Lewis. “He was airlifted simply as a precautionary measure. I'm not sure which hospital the men were taken to, but I have received word this morning that all three have been treated and released.”

Alon officials declined to discuss the cause of the explosion, saying only the incident is under internal company investigation.

“The refinery is operating at planned rates, with no impact on production,” Israel said this morning.

Monday's explosion was the second in less than two years at the facility, which was heavily damaged in February 2008 when gas from a propylene tank caused a fire to rip through the refinery.

Repairs, which took nearly a year to complete following the 2008 explosion, cost approximately $300 million to complete, according to information recently released by officials with the Howard County Appraisal District.

Alon officials declined to comment on the estimated cost to repair the damage caused by Monday night's fire.

Contact Staff Writer Thomas Jenkins at 263-7331 ext. 232 or by e-mail at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it