Deer Park tells city residents to stay indoors after a petro-chemical plant catches fire leaving firefighters battling for hours to bring the blaze under control
- A tank exploded at a petro-chemical plant in Deer Park, Texas near Houston
- Officials said about 30 employees were working at the time of the fire and all have been accounted for with no injuries
- The chemical burning is called petroleum naphtha, which is a colorless liquid with the odor of gasoline
- Residents have been asked to remain sheltered and avoid going outdoors
- Community air monitoring is being conducted in the area
Residents living near Houston, Texas were warned to shelter in place on Sunday after a fire at a petrochemicals plant.
‘City of Deer Park issuing SHELTER-IN-PLACE emergency in Deer Park,’ the city of Deer Park wrote in a tweet at 8:58 a.m. ‘Please take immediate action and seek shelter.’
Even four hours later, the fire at Intercontinental Terminals Company Deer Park remained uncontrolled.
A tank exploded at a petro-chemical plant in Deer Park, Texas near Houston
Officials said about 30 employees were working at the time of the fire and all have been accounted for with no injuries
Smoke rises from a fire burning at the Intercontinental Terminals Company in Deer Park, east of Houston. Residents in the area are being urged to find a safe location indoors after the fire broke out at the petrochemicals terminal
Officials said a chemical tank containing naphtha, a component used in gasoline, had caught fire.
Fire fighters are began to attempt to control the fire using foam.
‘As of 3:30 p.m., we are fighting the fire defensively in order to ensure it does not spread,’ said ITC in a press release. ‘The safety of our employees, our surrounding community and the environment is our first priority.’
The fire resulted in the closure of State Highway 225 in both directions from Beltway 8 to Independence Parkway, which also remains closed near the facility.
The chemical burning is called petroleum naphtha, which is a colorless liquid with the odor of gasoline
Residents have been asked to remain sheltered and avoid going outdoors. Community air monitoring is being conducted in the area
The fire is located at 1943 Independence Parkway in a large facility that falls within the cities of Deer Park and La Porte.
The ITC Deer Park terminal has a capacity of 13.1 million barrels which are used to store various petrochemical liquids and gases including fuel oil and bunker oil.
Harris County Pollution Control is conducting air monitoring, and the city of Pasadena has contacted an independent contractor for additional air quality monitoring.
The Deer Park facility is the second to catch fire in as many days. On Saturday, there was a fire at an ExxonMobil plant in Baytown.
ITC has 13.1 million barrels of capacity in 242 tanks, and stores all kinds of petrochemical liquids and gases, as well as fuel oil, bunker oil, and distillates