2 Texas cities under shelter-in-place warning following mammoth tank farm fire
A shelter-in-place has been ordered for two Texas cities following a massive fire at a petrochemical facility outside Houston.
The fire was extinguished Wednesday but left behind elevated levels of benzene in the air. Exposure to benzene can cause dizziness, rapid or irregular heartbeat, headaches and confusion, among other symptoms. Very high levels can be lethal.
The fire started in a single tank at Intercontinental Terminals Company-Deer Park Sunday morning and had to jumped to several other tanks by Monday. It continued to spread from tank to tank until firefighters could go into offensive mode Tuesday night, KHOU reports. KHOU had previously reported that ITC was hoping to let the chemicals burn off enough, then turn off a valve to let the fire die down.
The fire briefly flared up Wednesday night, but firefighters were able to quickly extinguish the blaze.
Deer Park and Galena Park were both placed under the shelter-in-place order early Thursday morning for the elevated
ITC says on its website that its Deer Park location stores "all kinds of petrochemical liquids and gases, as well as fuel oil, bunker oil and distillates. The terminal has five ship docks and ten barge docks, rail and truck access, as well as multiple pipeline connections."
