Houston disaster zone reignites, casting new plume over city

Updated 7 p.m. ET, March 22, 2019

The chemical disaster site outside of Houston temporarily reignited on Friday afternoon, with multiple sections of the complex belching smoke and flames, and sending a new black plume over the fourth-largest U.S. city.

New blaze: Tank contained toxic xylene

The latest blaze erupted just hours after a wall holding back almost a million gallons of toxic, flammable liquids collapsed, and just two days after the original conflagration was suppressed. Intercontinental Terminals Co., which owns the storage facility in suburban Deer Park, said two tanks and a drainage ditch were alight before firefighters suppressed the flames about 90 minutes later.

At least one of the tanks involved in the new blaze contained xylene, a toxic byproduct of the oil-refining process. Deer Park officials said on Twitter they were holding off on ordering residents to shut windows and remain indoors. Meanwhile, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit accusing ITC of violating clean-air laws.

Hundreds being treated for exposure

About 700 people have been treated at a mobile clinic set up in Deer Park, 15 of whom were sent to emergency rooms for severe symptoms, said Umair Shah, executive director of Harris County Public Health.

People at nearby industrial sites and a state war memorial had already been warned to take cover when the key containment wall failed, prompting the U.S. Coast Guard to shut part of the Houston Ship Channel, which abuts ITC’s complex.

The channel is one of the busiest commercial shipping facilities in North America, connecting Houston’s manufacturing and oil-refining nexus to Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico.

Although the ship channel is a key maritime thoroughfare, it’s not a source of drinking water for Houston or its suburbs. After the wall failed, officials issued take-shelter warnings to neighboring companies and visitors to the San Jacinto battlefield, site of the 1836 fight that won Texas independence from Mexico.

Water testing, air monitoring

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has been testing water samples from the so-called containment area surrounding the tanks that burned. Adam Adams, a coordinator for the agency, said earlier this week that results would be released Friday; several calls to the EPA’s regional office in Dallas were not returned.

The U.S. Chemical Safety Board announced late Thursday it will be investigating the blaze. The Texas National Guard dispatched troops to assist local authorities with air monitoring after cancer-causing benzene wafted across the area, prompting take-shelter alerts and road closures.

ITC is a unit of Mitsui & Co.

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Updated 3:30 p.m. ET, March 22, 2019

A wall holding back almost a million gallons of toxic, flammable liquids collapsed Friday at the site of a Houston-area chemical disaster.

People at nearby industrial sites and a state war memorial were warned to take cover. Workers at Intercontinental Terminals Co.’s storage facility in the suburb of Deer Park were in the process of pumping chemicals into another tank.

Earlier, Brent Weber, the executive overseeing the recovery work, told reporters the threat of a benzene release would be heightened during the process.

Portion of Houston Ship Channel closed

ITC said it’s working to determine the precise contents of the spill, though a spokesman declined to say where the fluids were headed. The U.S. Coast Guard closed a portion of the nearby Houston Ship Channel, which is downhill from ITC’s property. The channel is one of the busiest commercial shipping facilities in North America, connecting Houston’s manufacturing and oil-refining nexus to Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico.

Although the channel is a key maritime thoroughfare, it’s not a source of drinking water for Houston or its suburbs.

20,000 barrels of pygas left in one of tanks

Before the collapse, there were 20,000 barrels (840,000 gallons) of a refining byproduct called pygas left in one of tanks consumed in the four-day blaze. Another 40,000 barrels of chemicals lingered within the disaster zone, Weber said in a meeting with reporters about two hours before the collapse.

The U.S. Chemical Safety Board announced late Thursday it will be investigating the blaze. The Texas National Guard dispatched troops to assist local authorities with air monitoring.

On Friday, the lone monitor detecting benzene was on the northeast side of Deer Park, the working class suburb near the Houston Ship Channel that’s home to ITC’s tank farm. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, one of four entities conducting air tests, said its own monitors hadn’t registered any signs of benzene on Friday. EPA representative Adam Adams said he couldn’t explain the discrepancy.

Related: Identifying and managing pollution-related exposures

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Updated 1 p.m. ET, March 22, 2019

Now that the four-day fire is out at a Houston-area chemical storage complex, the real danger has emerged.

No school, but roads and workplaces open Friday

Cancer-causing benzene was detected in a suburb of the fourth-largest U.S. city for a second morning. School had already been called off for thousands of students but roads and workplaces that were paralyzed for much of Thursday remained open Friday because the toxin appeared to be isolated to a small area. Local authorities refrained from issuing take-cover alerts to residents.

Intercontinental Terminals Co., which owns the chemical storage site that erupted in flames on March 17, said the benzene reading was isolated to a single monitor and that all surrounding stations detected nothing out of order. “Additional monitoring is happening now to follow-up” on the initial reading, Harris County, Texas, officials said on Twitter.

Overnight winds stirred benzene remnants

The benzene probably arose from charred chemical tanks as overnight winds stirred remnants of their contents, an ITC spokesman said.

The latest alert appeared to confirm warnings from scientists about the lingering threat from the fire’s aftermath. Temperatures and wind direction can dictate whether toxic fumes emerging from the disaster site are whisked up into atmosphere or settle at ground level, said Jeff Evans, the meteorologist in charge of the National Weather Service’s Houston office.

The U.S. Chemical Safety Board announced late Thursday it will be investigating the blaze. The Texas National Guard dispatched troops to assist local authorities with air monitoring.

When benzene was first detected before dawn on Thursday, panic gripped Houstonians normally accustomed to orange, fiery flares from the warren of refinery and chemical plant smokestacks that stretches to the eastern horizon. Even when the chemical fire erupted Sunday and sent a black anvil of smoke a mile above the city, many residents were nonchalant.

Byproducts free to evaporate at ground level

But with the fire at Intercontinental’s storage complex extinguished, the situation is actually more treacherous because the pools of naphtha and other crude-oil byproducts at the site are no longer burning off — and are free to evaporate at ground level.

“It’s making the dangers worse for the communities near the site,” said Daniel Cohan, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at Rice University. “The fires that had been burning had been burning off many of these air toxins and wafting them into a plume higher into the sky, where it was able to spread and disperse into broader regions.”

Working class suburb

On Friday, the lone monitor detecting benzene was on the northeast side of Deer Park, the working class suburb near the Houston Ship Channel that’s home to ITC’s tank farm. Fire crews continued to douse several destroyed storage tanks with water and foam at the facility to cool smoldering remnants.

“This is a real risk to human health, not theoretical,” said Elena Craft, senior director for climate and health at the Environmental Defense Fund. “Benzene is a known carcinogen, and no amount is safe to breathe. We urge everyone, especially pregnant women, to be vigilant.”

The benzene release was likely caused by a shifting of foam in one of the tanks, ITC spokeswoman Alice Richardson said at a press conference Thursday. She later said the tank was holding pygas, a byproduct of oil refining, and remains about half full.

Efforts to move the substance are ongoing, but heat left over from the 4-day blaze is delaying that process.

“It’s still very warm from the fires,” she said. “We are sending a drone over to see the temperatures right now, so everything is evolving. But this was a fire, and it takes a little bit of time.”

Damaged tanks

Before the fire, Intercontinental’s tank farm could hold as much as 13 million barrels of oil products and chemicals along the Houston Ship Channel. The black smoke plume that towered over Houston posed no risk to residents, local official said.

When ignited, benzene “just burns into carbon dioxide and water, just like anything else,” Dr. Stephen Harding, assistant professor of emergency medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. “Once you’ve controlled the fire, you’ve now got damaged tanks containing the benzene which may be leaching into the air, now that it’s no longer being burned off.”

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Updated 1 p.m. ET, March 21, 2019

Now that the four-day fire is out at a Houston-area chemical storage complex, the real danger has emerged.

Cancer-causing benzene

Cancer-causing benzene is wafting across the eastern suburbs of the fourth-largest U.S. city, shutting roads, schools and industrial plants, and disrupting everyday life. A major oil refinery in the heart of North America’s most important fuel-producing region told workers to stay home and the cities of Deer Park and Galena Park told everyone to shut their windows and stay inside. The Texas National Guard deployed about 20 troops to assist with air monitoring, Major Joshua Amstutz said in an email.

The toxic fumes detected hours before dawn have panicked Houstonians normally accustomed to orange flares from the warren of refinery and chemical plant smokestacks that stretch to the eastern horizon. Even when the chemical fire erupted Sunday and sent a black anvil of smoke a mile above the city, many residents were nonchalant.

But with the fire at Intercontinental Terminals Co.’s storage complex extinguished, the situation is actually more treacherous because the pools of naphtha and other crude-oil byproducts at the site are no longer burning off — and are free to evaporate at ground level.

“This is a real risk to human health, not theoretical,” said Elena Craft, senior director for climate and health at the Environmental Defense Fund. “Benzene is a known carcinogen, and no amount is safe to breathe. We urge everyone, especially pregnant women, to be vigilant.”

Police barricaded roads in Deer Park, 18 miles (29 kilometers) east of downtown Houston, after a brief overnight flare-up at Intercontinental’s facility, where fire crews continue to douse several charred storage tanks with water and foam to cool the smoldering remnants.

Royal Dutch Shell Plc told workers at its nearby 275,000 barrel-a-day Deer Park refinery to stay at home or remain inside if they’ve already arrived at work. The refinery’s operations are normal, said Ray Fisher, a Shell spokesman.

‘Immediate risk’

The benzene levels detected “are below those that represent an immediate risk,” Intercontinental said in a statement. The company notified “surrounding municipalities and out of an abundance of caution Deer Park Emergency Operations Center has called for shelter in place precautions immediately for all of Deer Park.”

Before the fire, Intercontinental’s tank farm could hold as much as 13 million barrels of oil products and chemicals along the Houston Ship Channel. The black smoke plume that towered over Houston posed no risk to residents, local official said.

ITC will hold a press conference at 11 a.m. local time.

Highway shut down

Part of State Highway 225, which many workers use to get to work at nearby refineries and terminals, has been shut down. The highway closure affects an 8-mile stretch through the heart of refining and chemical country, snarling traffic all over the east side of Houston.

Workers at LyondellBasell Industries NV’s Houston refinery continue to operate the facility, according to Kimberly Windon, a company spokeswoman. Petroleo Brasilerio SA didn’t respond to an email seeking comment on the status of its refinery in the suburb of Pasadena.

“We know this is concerning, especially to residents in the area of the shelter in place,” said Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo in a statement. “We are continuing to monitor to verify if this is a short-term, one time exposure or a longer exposure. At the level of benzene we are seeing now for the current duration it should not cause symptoms even in the area impacted.”

The Deer Park Independent School District, La Porte ISD and Galena Park ISD have canceled school for Thursday.

Related: Playing with fire: Avoiding toxic exposures in structure fires

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Updated 1:20 p.m. ET, March 20, 2019

Firefighting crews early Wednesday extinguished a petrochemical tank fire near Houston that had blazed for almost four days, spewing black smoke into the skies above the energy capital and spurring the hurried cancellation of classes for tens of thousands of children.

Smoke and steam may still be visible from the area, and firefighting crews will continue to spray foam and water on the tanks to keep them cool, as the possibility for reigniting still exists, according to a press release from Intercontinental Terminals Co., which operates the tank farm in the industrial suburb of Deer Park.

Changing weather conditions raised fears

Officials shut schools in the city and in nearby districts late Tuesday, two days after the blaze began. Changing weather conditions raised fears the massive black smoke cloud that’s been billowing since Sunday would descend close enough to the ground to affect people’s breathing.

Forecasts suggested an end to conditions that allowed the torrent of smoke to push up into the atmosphere, at what government officials said earlier Tuesday was a safe distance from people on the ground. The switch in the weather “could cause the smoke plume from the fire to directly affect our school district,” the administration in La Porte said on Twitter. “Employees should not report to work.”

While the skies over Houston were inky and in some neighborhoods a pungent odor was pervasive, residents were told not to worry throughout the day.

“I know the cloud of dark smoke seems ominous,” Mayor Sylvester Turner said in the afternoon, but there was so far no threat to public health. “We want to assure everybody that the air quality is being monitored around the clock.”

Intensity of fire propelled smoke upwards

Pollution gauges showed the air was safe to breathe, probably because the intensity of the fire continued to propel the smoke upwards, said Jeff Lindner, a meteorologist who works for Harris County.

What’s more, the “black disgusting blob” overhead didn’t contain any more toxins than would be emitted from a backyard fire pit, according to Ryan Sitton, a member of the Texas Railroad Commission, which oversees the state’s oil industry.

The compounds in the hydrocarbons stored at the facility burn so intensely and completely that smoke and soot are all that’s left to surge off in the cloud, Sitton said. Benzene and other chemicals are completely incinerated.

Not all were reassured. The town of Galena Park, directly upwind from the blaze, canceled after-school sporting events and other activities on Tuesday. Some people said they were holing up in their homes, windows shut tight.

“It’s very scary,” said Patricia Walker, 85, as she walked her dog in downtown Houston. She was out and about but her 9-year-old granddaughter, who lives close to Deer Park, was stuck in the house with her parents. “They didn’t allow her to go outside because of the fumes.”

EPA: Industrial fire, blast or leak occurs every 36 hours

Houstonians are no strangers to spectacular events at the warren of refineries and chemical plants along the Gulf Coast. An industrial fire, blast or leak occurs every 36 hours, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Gas flares and the occasional orange fireball dot the southeastern skyline.

The huge dark cloud, though, was unusual. “Being an oil and gas guy, I didn’t freak out, but a lot of my friends panicked that we’re going to have a Gotham black cloud over our city for the next 10 years,” said Doug Tinsley, 36, a petroleum engineer.

Intercontinental’s facility in Deer Park has a total of 242 tanks located near the Houston Ship Channel, a primary port of call in the Gulf Coast industrial nexus that supplies a big chunk of the world’s fuel, chemicals and plastics. Intercontinental is owned by Japan’s Mitsui & Co., which said Wednesday that the cause of the fire hasn’t been determined.

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Updated 4:30 p.m. ET, March 19, 2019

As a towering plume of black smoke billowed a mile above Houston for a third day, all attention turned to a concrete wall on the edge of a blazing petrochemical site that was built to hold back millions of gallons of toxic chemicals.

Firefighters and other first responders are watching a 4-foot (1.2-meter) barrier lining the south side of Intercontinental Terminals Co.’s suburban Houston storage facility to ensure it isn’t breached by foam, water and other runoff, Harris County Fire Marshal Laurie Christensen said Tuesday.

‘It’s very scary’

The threat to the wall emerged at the same time local officials said they don’t know how long the conflagration that sent orange fireballs into the sky will continue. Meanwhile, state, city and county authorities continued to assure residents that the towering plume of inky black smoke billowing over the fourth-largest U.S. city posed no immediate health threat.

Those assurances were met with incredulity by some Houstonians.

“It’s very scary,” said Patricia Walker, 85, who was walking her dog in downtown Houston. “I’m concerned for my granddaughter. They didn’t allow her to go outside because of the fumes.”

3 tanks have burned out

Five tanks holding gasoline ingredients were still afire about 20 miles (32 kilometers) east of Houston’s business district on Tuesday and three have burned out, according to Intercontinental. However, previous expectations that the conflagration would exhaust itself by the middle of the week no longer hold, officials said.

The fire that began early Sunday in an industrial suburb called Deer Park intensified overnight after a dip in water pressure interfered with firefighting efforts and two more tanks erupted in flame. The pressure drop has been rectified and additional help in fighting the fire was summoned.

“Fuel has burned off and we’ve said from the beginning that may be what has to happen,” Christensen said during a meeting with reporters. “I’m not going to give you a time because as we know overnight it has changed.”

Ground level

In the downtown Houston business district, the smoky smell that pervaded high-rise offices on Monday had eased. But in residential neighborhoods on the city’s north side, a chemical odor descended Tuesday morning on an otherwise clear day. An ITC spokeswoman said air pollution remained below health-concern levels.

Since assuring residents of the fourth-largest U.S. city on Monday that there were no “immediate health concerns at ground level,” the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality hasn’t issued any new advisories or assessments. The agency doesn’t know when it will issue an update, spokesman Brian McGovern said in a telephone interview on Tuesday.

State regulators are “asleep at the wheel,” said Adrian Shelley, director of the Texas arm of Public Citizen, which advocates for environmental protection. “They collect a wealth of data across Texas and Houston is certainly one of the most heavily air-monitored places on the planet. But they don’t use their channels to communicate with the public.”

The Deer Park facility has a total of 242 tanks located near the Houston Ship Channel, one of the busiest ports along the Gulf Coast.

Schools in Deer Park and neighboring communities that were shut Monday reopened Tuesday.

The fire “demonstrates how chemical disasters happen far too often in our region, often due to lax regulatory oversight and enforcement,” said Stephanie Thomas, a Public Citizen researcher.

Chemical communities

She criticized the Trump administration for seeking to reduce funding to the Environmental Protection Agency and other government plans “which sought to bring greater safety to communities like Deer Park that are surrounded by the petrochemical industry.”

Potential health effects of the smoke include coughing, difficulty breathing and irritation to eyes and throat, according to the One Breath Partnership, an organization that works to improve air quality.

“You can really smell & taste it now,” real-estate agent Jon Gardella said on Twitter, referring to the black smog enveloping Houston on Monday morning.

Prices for naphtha on the U.S. Gulf Coast rose 2.51 cents to $1.5253 a gallon Tuesday after adding 2.45 cents on Monday, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

The tank farm occupies 265 acres on the Houston Ship Channel east of the city. It can store more than 13 million barrels of chemicals, petroleum, fuel oil and gases. It serves marine, train and trucking transport with five tanker berths and its own rail spur.

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Updated 11 a.m. ET, March 19, 2019

A blaze at a petrochemical storage facility that covered Houston in a plume of thick, black smoke for a third day intensified overnight as pungent fumes pervaded neighborhoods more than 20 miles (32 kilometers) away.

Two additional storage tanks are ablaze, bringing the total to eight, Intercontinental Terminals Co., the facility’s owner, said in an update in the early hours of Tuesday. The drop in water pressure that interfered with firefighting efforts overnight has been rectified and additional help in fighting the fire is expected to be on hand this morning, it said.

Residential neighborhoods impacted by chemical odor

In the downtown Houston business district, the smoky smell that pervaded high-rise offices on Monday had eased. But in residential neighborhoods on the city’s north side, a chemical odor descended Tuesday morning on an otherwise clear day.

Since assuring residents of the fourth-largest U.S. city on Monday that there were no “immediate health concerns at ground level,” the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality hasn’t issued any new advisories or assessments. The agency doesn’t know when it will issue an update, spokesman Brian McGovern said in a telephone interview on Tuesday.

State regulators are “asleep at the wheel,” said Adrian Shelley, director of the Texas arm of Public Citizen, which advocates for environmental protection. “They collect a wealth of data across Texas and Houston is certainly one of the most heavily air-monitored places on the planet. But they don’t use their channels to communicate with the public.”

Tanks store liquids used to make gasoline

The blaze is affecting tanks that store liquids used to make gasoline. The Deer Park facility has a total of 242 tanks located near the Houston Ship Channel, one of the busiest ports along the Gulf Coast. First responders said Monday that the fire will likely burn for two more days.

“Air monitoring continues,” said ITC, a unit of Tokyo-based Mitsui & Co. “Readings are currently well below hazardous levels.”

Still, Houston residents were urged on Monday to stay inside and nearby schools and highways were closed. Schools in the suburbs closest to the blaze reopened Tuesday.

The fire “demonstrates how chemical disasters happen far too often in our region, often due to lax regulatory oversight and enforcement,” said Stephanie Thomas, a Public Citizen researcher.She criticized the Trump administration for seeking to reduce funding to the Environmental Protection Agency and other government plans “which sought to bring greater safety to communities like Deer Park that are surrounded by the petrochemical industry.”

Potential health effects of the smoke include coughing, difficulty breathing and irritation to eyes and throat, according to the One Breath Partnership, an organization that works to improve air quality.

“You can really smell & taste it now,” real-estate agent Jon Gardella said on Twitter, referring to the black smog enveloping Houston on Monday morning.

Ships not permitted in the area

Ships in the area at the time of the incident have been cleared out and they are currently not permitted to enter or depart the area, U.S. Coast Guard Watch Supervisor Alberto Hernandez said by phone Monday morning.

Prices for naphtha on the U.S. Gulf Coast rose 2.45 cents to $1.5002 a gallon Monday, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

The tank farm occupies 265 acres on the Houston Ship Channel east of the city. It can store more than 13 million barrels of chemicals, petroleum, fuel oil and gases. It serves marine, train and trucking transport with five tanker berths and its own rail spur.

Related: Environmental impairment risk continues to rise

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Originally published Monday, March 18, 2019

Petrochemical tank fires that covered the Houston skyline in thick, black smoke will likely burn for two more days or until the fuel runs out, first responders said.

Firefighters are in “defensive mode” as they seek to contain a blaze that spread to seven tanks storing liquids used to make gasoline in Deer Park, near the city’s shipping channel, said Ray Russell, a spokesman for Channel Industries Mutual Aid, a petrochemical emergency response organization.

Using foam and water to stop blaze

First responders are confident that they can stop the blaze spreading beyond the affected 15-tank unit by using foam and water, he said. The facility is owned by Intercontinental Terminals Company, a division of Tokyo-based Mitsui & Co., and has a total of 242 storage tanks located near the Houston Ship Channel to the east of the city, one of the busiest ports along the Gulf Coast.

“At this time we are in a defensive mode,” Russell said at a press conference held at 10 a.m. local time. “It is going to have to burn out in that tank or until we complete draining the tank.”

Residents urged to stay inside

Residents have been urged to stay inside and nearby schools and highways were closed as fumes soared up into the sky causing a black haze across the city. However, local officials lifted a “Shelter in Place” order at 5:30 a.m. after air quality was found to be below “action levels.”

The fire “demonstrates how chemical disasters happen far too often in our region, often due to lax regulatory oversight and enforcement,” said Stephanie Thomas, researcher for Public Citizen, which advocates for environmental protection.

She criticized the Trump administration for seeking to reduce funding to the Environmental Protection Agency and other government plans “which sought to bring greater safety to communities like Deer Park that are surrounded by the petrochemical industry.”

Potential health effects of the smoke include coughing, difficulty breathing and irritation to eyes and throat, according to the One Breath Partnership, an organization that works to improve air quality.

“You can really smell & taste it now,” real-estate agent Jon Gardella said on Twitter, referring to the black smog enveloping Houston on Monday morning.

Ships not permitted to enter or depart area

Ships in the area at the time of the incident have been cleared out and they are currently not permitted to enter or depart the area, U.S. Coast Guard Watch Supervisor Alberto Hernandez said by phone Monday morning.

David Wascome, vice president of terminal operations at ITC, said there were seven tanks on fire, correcting an earlier press release which said eight had caught alight.

Prices for naphtha on the U.S. Gulf Coast rose 2.45 cents to $1.5002 a gallon Monday, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Risk of explosion

“Although the risk of explosion is minimal, we continue to take precautions to further reduce this possibility,” ITC said in a statement.

The tank farm occupies 265 acres on the Houston Ship Channel east of the city. It can store more than 13 million barrels of chemicals, petroleum, fuel oil and gases. It serves marine, train and trucking transport with five tanker berths and its own rail spur.

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