Shelter-in-place ordered near chemicals facility hit by fire

FAN Editor

The city of Deer Park, Texas, issued a shelter-in-place order early Thursday due to airborne levels of the hazardous chemical benzene in the wake of a three-day fire at a petrochemicals storage facility. City facilities, schools and some roads were closed.

Harris County officials said the National Guard and hazardous materials teams have established perimeters around the Intercontinental Terminals Company in Deer Park, which is about 15 miles southeast of Houston.

Initially, the company told its employees to stay indoors after it detected “action” levels of benzene at its tank farm southeast of Houston. 

The company said a “chemical odor incident occurred at our facility. At this time, (an) odor may be noticeable to the community. We are coordinating with local officials, and working to resolve the issue as soon as possible.”

The order covered company workers and local officials recommended the same steps for several square blocks near the plant. No residences were affected.

shelter-in-plaze-zone-itc-fire-deer-park-texas-032119.jpg
Area affected by shelter-in-place order around ITC plant in Deer Park, Texas early on March 21, 2019 KHOU-TV

But that changed when Deer Park officials evaluated the situation:

ITC later said beneze levels were “below those that represent an immediate risk. … ITC responders are working actively to reduce the cause that may be responsible for the elevated readings.”

The blaze hit multiple storage tanks at the facility and burned from early Sunday to early Wednesday and sent a huge, dark plume of smoke thousands of feet into the air.

It led to concerns about air quality among some residents and environmental groups despite reassurances from officials that testing shows nothing amiss during the fire and immediately after it was extinguished.

The tanks that caught fire contained components of gasoline and materials used in nail polish remover, glues and paint thinner. ITC said 11 of the 15 storage tanks located in the area where the fire occurred were damaged.

The blaze briefly flared up late Wednesday afternoon. The flare-up, which sent flames and smoke into the air, was contained within 30 seconds by firefighters, the city of Deer Park said in a tweet.

Before Thursday, the Environmental Protection Agency conducted air quality tests throughout the Houston area, both on the ground and from a small airplane, and “measured no levels of hazardous concentrations,” said agency official Adam Adams.

The EPA also reviewed data collected by ITC, Harris County, where Houston is located, and by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and that data did not show hazardous concentrations of volatile organic compounds, Adams said.

APTOPIX Petrochemical Fire Texas
Petrochemical fire at its height at the Intercontinental Terminals Company on March 18, 2019, in Deer Park, Texas David J. Phillip / AP

The state environmental agency said in a statement Wednesday that the benzene levels it found near and around the storage facility do not pose a health concern.

But some residents who live near the storage facility said Wednesday they don’t have confidence in the air quality test results.

“Everything has been wrapped up in this nice perfect bow in saying that there were no problems. Every air quality was perfect. Every wind was perfect blowing it away. And if everything was so perfect, why did it happen?” longtime Deer Park resident Terri Garcia said.

Bryan Parras, an organizer in Houston with the Sierra Club, said some residents who live near the facility have experienced various symptoms since the fire, including headaches, nausea and nose bleeds. He said his environmental group has concerns not just about the air quality, but about potential impacts to the environment and the fishing industry if chemicals from the storage facility or foam used to fight the fire leaked into the Houston Ship Channel, which leads to the Gulf of Mexico.

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