The Latest: Authorities: Evacuation order will stay in place

The Latest on a Wisconsin refinery explosion that injured several people (all times local):

11:10 p.m.

Authorities now say an evacuation order for residents of Superior, Wisconsin, after a smoky refinery fire will stay in place and be re-evaluated throughout the night.

Superior police tweeted the update late Thursday night.

Police and Douglas County officials on Thursday evening posted they were allowing residents to return to their homes but asking them to wait at least two hours before doing so.

An explosion rocked the Husky Energy oil refinery in Superior on Thursday morning. Authorities earlier said the fire was out, but it later reignited, sending up billowing clouds of thick, black smoke.

It was unclear how many people were being evacuated, but Superior Mayor Jim Paine said most of the city was being evacuated.

At least 11 people were hurt. Hospital officials said only one of the injured was seriously hurt, with what was described as a blast injury. No deaths were reported, and officials said all workers had been accounted for.

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7:35 p.m.

Authorities say a smoky refinery fire that forced many residents of Superior, Wisconsin, to evacuate is out.

Douglas County officials posted an update Thursday evening saying the fire is extinguished but asking residents in the evacuation area to stay away from their homes for at least another two hours.

An explosion rocked the Husky Energy oil refinery in Superior on Thursday morning. Authorities earlier said the fire was out, but it later reignited, sending up billowing clouds of thick, black smoke.

It was unclear how many people were being evacuated, but Superior Mayor Jim Paine said most of the city was being evacuated.

At least 11 people were hurt. Hospital officials said only one of the injured was seriously hurt, with what was described as a blast injury. No deaths were reported, and officials said all workers had been accounted for.

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6:30 p.m.

A convention center in Minnesota has opened to accept people forced from their homes by a smoky fire at a nearby Wisconsin oil refinery.

Executive director Chelly Townsend says people were trickling in to the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center after doors opened late Thursday afternoon.

Townsend says the center could comfortably handle 5,000 people, but could shelter up to 7,000 if needed.

Superior Mayor Jim Paine says most of the northwestern Wisconsin city is being evacuated as black clouds billow from the Husky Energy oil refinery. At least 11 people were hurt in an explosion at the refinery Thursday morning, one seriously.

Schools in Superior and nearby Maple, Wisconsin, have called off classes Friday.

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5:55 p.m.

Federal investigators are headed to a Wisconsin refinery hit by an explosion and fire.

Burning asphalt at the Husky Energy refinery in Superior, Wisconsin, has prompted the evacuation of much of the town of about 27,000. Local officials say the evacuations are a precaution as a plume of noxious black smoke drifts southward from the plant.

A four-person team from the U.S. Chemical Safety Board will investigate. The board makes safety recommendations after serious chemical incidents.

At least 11 people were hurt in Thursday's explosion, one seriously.

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2:15 p.m.

Authorities have expanded the evacuation zone around a Wisconsin refinery that was rocked by an explosion and are now saying anyone within a three-mile (five-kilometer) radius should leave.

Douglas County authorities also say those in a 10-mile (16-kilometer) corridor south of the Husky Energy oil refinery in Superior should leave due to smoke coming from the site.

Evacuees are being told to gather at Yellowjacket Union at the University of Wisconsin-Superior or at Four Corners Elementary School in Superior.

It isn't clear how many people the evacuation order will effect. The refinery is in an industrial area, but there's a residential neighborhood within a mile to the northeast. The corridor downwind to the south is sparsely populated.

At least 11 people were injured in the Thursday morning blast. A spokeswoman for Essentia Health says one person was seriously injured, while another nine being treated at Essentia hospitals in Superior and nearby Duluth, Minnesota, have non-life-threatening injuries.

St. Luke's Hospital in Duluth received one patient who is in fair condition.

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12:55 p.m.

The number of people injured in a refinery explosion in Wisconsin has grown to at least 11.

Essentia Health spokeswoman Maureen Talarico says five patients are being treated at St. Mary's Medical Center in Duluth, Minnesota. She says emergency room physicians describe those patients as awake and alert.

Talarico says another five are being treated at St. Mary's Hospital in Superior, Wisconsin, where the explosion happened. She says the extent of injuries is unknown.

In Duluth, spokeswoman Jessica Stauber says St. Luke's Hospital is treating one person. She doesn't know the condition of that person.

The explosion at the Husky Energy oil refinery happened Thursday morning. Superior Fire Chief Steve Panger has said there are no known fatalities.

Panger earlier said the fire was out, but Superior police tweeted that the fire has reignited but that there is no need for residents to evacuate.

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12:10 p.m.

Authorities now say five people have been taken to hospitals after an explosion rocked a large refinery in Wisconsin.

Superior Fire Chief Steve Panger initially told The Associated Press that six were taken to hospitals in nearby Duluth, Minnesota, after the explosion Thursday at the Husky Energy oil refinery. The Superior Fire Department later updated that number to five.

The fire chief says there are no known fatalities. Authorities don't know the extent of injuries. The fire is out.

A contractor who was inside the building told WDIO television that the explosion sounded like "a sonic boom" and that it happened when crews were working on shutting the plant down for repairs.

Owned by Alberta-based Husky Energy, Wisconsin's only refinery produces gasoline, asphalt and other products.

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11:30 a.m.

Several people have been injured in an explosion at a refinery in Wisconsin.

Authorities in Superior say the explosion at the Husky Energy oil refinery happened at about 10 a.m. Thursday. Superior Fire Chief Steve Panger says six people were taken to hospitals in Duluth, Minnesota. He doesn't know the extent of their injuries. Others were walking wounded. There are no known fatalities.

A contractor who was inside the building told WDIO television that the explosion sounded like "a sonic boom" that happened when crews were working on shutting the plant down for repairs.

Panger says the fire was out by 11:20 a.m.

Superior police are advising people to stay away from the area and roads around the refinery have been blocked off. There have been no neighborhood evacuations.