Anze Kopitar's wife Ines shares safety update after massive fire breaks out at Chevron Refinery near LA

On Thursday night, a massive fire erupted at Chevron’s El Segundo refinery near Los Angeles. The explosion, which occurred around 9:30 PM, was visible from miles away and prompted a swift emergency response from local and state agencies. Fortunately, no injuries were reported and authorities confirmed that the fire was contained to one section of the facility

Amid the chaos, LA Kings captain Anze Kopitar's wife Ines Kopitar shared a reassuring update on her Instagram story. Her post showed a TV screen broadcasting the breaking news coverage of the refinery fire. In the caption, she wrote:

“We are all good. Thank you everyone for checking in 🙏”

The El Segundo refinery has been operational since 1911 and spans roughly 1.5 square miles. It refines hundreds of thousands of barrels of crude oil daily, producing gasoline, diesel and jet fuel for the region.

Despite the intensity of the fire and its proximity to Los Angeles International Airport, operations at LAX continued without interruption though residents were advised to stay indoors while air quality was closely monitored.

Leon Draisaitl reflects fondly on Anze Kopitar’s career

Earlier last month, LA Kings captain Anze Kopitar announced that he will retire at the end of the upcoming season bringing an end to a storied 19-year career with the franchise. Kopitar, who led the Kings to Stanley Cup victories in 2012 and 2014, is the team’s all-time leader in appearances and assists, and second in points and goals.

Edmonton Oilers star Leon Draisaitl reflected candidly in an interview on Kopitar’s career after the announcement. The two first crossed paths as teammates for Team Europe during the 2016 World Cup of Hockey and Draisaitl credited Kopitar with shaping aspects of his own game.

“He’s played for a long time and he’s won everything there is to win,” Draisaitl said. “I’m very happy for him, and I’m sure he’s excited for one more year.”

“First of all, an amazing career, truly one of the best to do it. We’ll see maybe we still have a couple more battles against him, so I won’t let him off the hook yet, but just a fantastic career.”

Draisaitl also praised Kopitar’s defensive prowess, noting:

“It’s as good as it gets, it’s as good as you’ll ever see. And it’s the consistency part, he’s done it for a long time, he does it every day, every game, and I think that’s something that I took a little bit in getting to.”

The two teams have often met in the playoffs with Kopitar and the Kings falling to the Oilers in four consecutive first-round series. Draisaitl shared that he expects to face his idol a few more times as divisional rivals in the upcoming season.

About the author

Anjum is an NHL reporter at Sportskeeda with over five years of professional experience in the spectator sports industry. Raised in Bahrain, Anjum grew up close to the Formula 1 and GP2 scene, but it was ice-sports that she truly had a chance to play at school.

Anjum prioritizes thorough research, fact-checking and verification of sources when reporting, and has worked for Oil on Whyte, Leafs Herald, the Nation of Blaugrana, Barca International Cules, FromTheBend, Last Word On Sports and NASA.

She got interested in ice hockey after watching the “MVP” trilogy as a second grader and has not gotten over the sport yet. Her favorite player is Alex Ovechkin, whose legendary one-timers live rent free in her heart. The iconic moment when Ovechkin reached 800 career goals with a hat trick in Chicago as the away crowd chanted “Ovi, Ovi” is probably her happiest memory from an ice-rink.

When not enjoying the game, Anjum can be found sailing, star-mapping or collaborating with fellow citizen scientists at NASA.

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Edited by Anjum Rajonno