Exxon evacuates non-essential staff from Las Flores Canyon facility

(Reuters) - Exxon Mobil Corp said on Wednesday it had evacuated non-essential personnel from its Las Flores Canyon facility in Santa Barbara county in response to a wildfire. The employees on site are involved in various fire-protection activities and the company is monitoring the situation, Exxon Mobil said. Mandatory evacuations have been ordered for Refugio Canyon, Venadito Canyon and Las Flores Canyon, which includes an Exxon refinery, an Associated Press report published by theeagle.com quoted the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office. A company spokesman said that the report was referring to Exxon's Las Flores Canyon onshore facility. A 150-acre blaze broke out around 3:30 p.m. local time Wednesday in the area of Los Padres National Forest, according to the report. (Reporting by Vijaykumar Vedala and Apeksha Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier and Jane Merriman)