On-site shelter assigned to Deer Park after the ITC factory fire



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DEER PARK, Texas (KTRK) – The black smoke rising in the sky can be seen from all over Houston. The flames expand and contract from the tank while a 12-hour fire, burned all day, illuminates the sky all night long.

The fire began shortly before 11 am Sunday at one of the Independence Parkway facilities, just north of Highway 225.

Harris County has activated its EOC, an on-site shelter has been released. But how long will it last?

"I can not answer for the moment, it will last all night," said Alice Richardson, spokesperson for Intercontinental Terminals.

As a result of the fire, the SH-225 was closed in both directions, from Beltway 8 to Independence Pkwy. Independence Pkwy remains closed in both directions close to the property.

Company officials said the first tank that caught fire contained NAPHTHA, a component of gasoline. The fire then spread to a second tank containing XYLENE, another component of gasoline.

About 30 employees were on hand when the fire broke out on Sunday morning at the ITC, but officials said no one had been injured.

"These incidents should not occur.All cases in which I have been involved in the past and at the present time, it is not a single misstep, but several missteps, "said lawyer Mo Aziz., Partner of Abraham Watkins, who represented major cases the West, Texas explosion causing the Arkema plant fire after Hurricane Harvey.

"In reality, just let it burn, we know that in some cases, as in the Arkema case, it lasted 48 hours and that the inhabitants could not return home for a week and a half", Aziz said.

According to the ITC website, the company has a capacity of 13.1 million barrels in 242 tanks and stores all kinds of petrochemical liquids and gases, as well as fuel oil, bunker oil and distillates.

Late in the evening on Sunday, as the fire continued to burn, Judge Lina Hidalgo, of Harris County, addressed the incident and decided to activate the center. emergency operations.

Several agencies monitor air quality because an on – site shelter remains in effect for the city of Deer Park.

"Currently, air quality readings are standard and that is why it is important for us, as well as our federal and federal partners, to continue to monitor the quality of the air if something was changing, which is why it is important to have an on-site shelter, "Hidalgo said.

The cause of the fire is still undetermined.

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