Why Did The Torrance Refinery Flaring Cause a Power Outage?

Exxon Mobile Torrance Refinery Power Outage Flaring Fire

A major power outage affected several South Bay cities this morning, including parts of Torrance, where a "flare-off event'' was triggered at a refinery. Areas that lost power Tuesday included Westmont, Hawthorne, Gardena, Torrance, Manhattan Beach and Redondo Beach, according to Southern California Edison. The outage, reported before 6 a.m., knocked out power to over 90,000+ customers in the area. The outage led to a flare-off at the Torrance Refining Co., the Torrance Police Department reported.  Hazmat situation reported as well.

The refinery has been plagued by power disruptions in recent weeks that have caused a series of unplanned flaring events.

Looks like they are citing the refinery as the source of the widespread outage this morning.  See NBC article.  Why isn't a refinery prepared to deal with a power outage?

Soooo there's a huge fire at an oil refinery near my house and the power went out 😅😅 pic.twitter.com/fTV160BIhI

— Max Legend (@Max_RnR) October 11, 2016