By Stephen Golub, The Benicia Herald, April  26, 2026

GOLUB: You played a large part in crafting Benicia’s Industrial Safety Ordinance, which was adopted by the City Council last year. When you first started as a firefighter, did you have any expectations that you could end up doing anything like that?

CHADWICK: Firefighters are trained in hazardous materials response. We are also training in air monitoring, which is the realm of confined space rescue. But being asked to develop an Industrial Safety Ordinance is not the norm. I have good working relationships with many other fire chiefs, and none of them deal with this issue

GOLUB: Particularly given that the ISO’s implementation has been affected by Valero’s decision to idle the refinery, do you have any thoughts on how that implementation is going? Any thoughts on its implementation or challenges going forward?

CHADWICK: Overall, the implementation is going well. I understand there may be some in the community who would like to see more visible progress, but significant work has been happening behind the scenes. This is a new program for Benicia, so there is naturally a ramp-up period.

We also didn’t truly get started until after the ordinance development process was complete. It was approved by the council in April 2025, but it didn’t take effect for another 120 days, and finalizing the associated fees extended into December. So, in many ways, we’re still in the early stages of implementation.

The idling of the refinery has had more of an indirect impact. Historically, the periods of highest risk for incidents and flaring are during shutdowns und startups, so it was expected that taking the refinery offline would in involve some increased activity. And more broadly, it’s important to recognize that no level of regulation can completely eliminate the risk associated with large industrial operations.

GOLUB: In what ways might Valero’s idling the refinery make the BFD’s work easier? In what ways might it make the work tougher? How might the answers change if Gov. Newsom’s plan for the refinery to transition to becoming an oil storage terminal (“tank farm”) for fuel produced elsewhere goes through? Is it yet clear what will become of Valero’s on-site firefighting personnel and equipment once the facility transitions from a refinery to an oil terminal?

CHADWICK: There are a few different pieces to that.

From a firefighter’s perspective, if refining operations are idled, that generally reduces some of the more complex and high-risk processes we plan for. In general, there is a reduction in pressure and temperature. So, in that sense, it could simplify parts of the risk profile.

That said, it doesn’t eliminate the hazard. Whether it’s a refinery or a fuel terminal, you’re still dealing with large volumes of combustible and flammable liquids. A transition to a tank farm shifts the risk rather than removes it. More focus is on storage, transfer operations, and transportation components. Those come with their own set of challenges and fire protection considerations.

In terms of whether that makes the iob easier or tougher, it’s probably more accurate to say it makes it different. We would need to evaluate the specific operations and adjust our planning, training, and response accordingly.

As for on-site firefighting personnel and equipment, that’s not entirely clear yet. From our standpoint, maintaining a strong on-site fire protection capability is critical given the scale of the hazards, and that’s something we’ve been actively engaged in discussions about.

BenIndy Editor – See also the Benicia Bridge article by Laura López González, “Valero cut its Benicia fire crew, hopes for outside aid in case of tank fire.“