New fire erupts at Deer Park plant as leaking toxins close Ship Channel
Local // Houston
Zach Despart and Mike Morris March 22, 2019 Updated: March 23, 2019 11:37 a.m.
New fire erupts at Deer Park plant as leaking toxins...
1of9Firefighters arrive at the site where the Intercontinental Terminals Company petrochemical fire reignited as crews tried to clean out the chemicals that remained in the tanks Friday, March 22, 2019, in Deer Park, Texas.Photo: Godofredo A. Vasquez, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer
2of9Sarai Aranda awaits to hear news of her son, who was part of the cleanup crew, as the Intercontinental Terminals Company petrochemical fire reignited during the clean out of the chemicals that remained in the tanks Friday, March 22, 2019, in Deer Park, Texas.Photo: Godofredo A. Vasquez, Staff photographer
4of9Firefighters arrive at the site where the Intercontinental Terminals Company petrochemical fire reignited as crews tried to clean out the chemicals that remained in the tanks Friday, March 22, 2019, in Deer Park, Texas.Photo: Godofredo A. Vasquez, Staff photographer
8of9The petrochemical fire at Intercontinental Terminals Company reignited as crews tried to clean out the chemicals that remained in the tanks Friday, March 22, 2019, in Deer Park, Texas.Photo: Godofredo A. Vasquez, Staff photographer
9of9Runoff from the now-extinguished petrochemical tank fire at Intercontinental Terminals Company is blocked by an oil skimming bouy on Wednesday, March 20, 2019, in Deer Park. Fire crews extinguished the blaze at ITC about 3 a.m., Wednesday, almost four days after it started, which caused a plume of black smoke to linger over the Houston area. ITC officials said the cause of the fire is still unknown. EPA on-site coordinator Adam Adams said they have been in Deer Park since Sunday, conducting air monitoring at ground level and in the plume. Biggest concerns are "volatile organic chemicals" and particulates, Adams said. He added that no hazardous levels have been detected.Photo: Brett Coomer, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer
A fireball again erupted into the sky.
An unknown volume of chemicals leaked into waterways, destined for Galveston Bay.
Deer Park residents peered out their windows at another plume of black smoke.
Friday brought a bout of deja vu to the Houston Ship Channel, where for the sixth consecutive day firefighters battled a massive chemical fire that has so far burned 11 storage tanks at Intercontinental Terminals Company.
"People are scared. I'm scared," said Jennifer Tijerina of Pasadena, as she held her 10-month-old boy, Sammy, on her hip. "Just information and reassurance would've been nice."
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A day ITC hoped would bring no surprises as the company carefully drained flammable compounds from exposed 80,000-barrel tanks devolved into a series of emergencies that exposed new dangers. Around noon, a wall surrounding the tank farm breached, increasing the risk that airborne and liquid toxins would be released and forcing a portion of the Ship Channel to close.
Three hours later, the fire re-ignited in at least two locations, sending familiar smoke into the sky.
An hour after that, Harris County Fire Marshal Laurie Christensen announced the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms would join the county's probe, an effort to boost its investigative resources and make good on her pledge to hold ITC accountable.
"They can bring in experts," said Rachel Moreno, spokeswoman for the county fire marshal. "They can bring in electrical engineers and fire science engineers that we don't have on staff."
A beefed-up county probe coincided with a separate investigation announced by the U.S. Chemical Safety Board, and a lawsuit by the Texas Attorney General, on behalf of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, alleging ITC violated the Texas Clean Air Act.
ITC had little to say about Friday's developments, rescheduling an afternoon news conference for Saturday morning. "It is still under investigation," said an ITC spokeswoman who declined to be identified.
Harris County officials struggled to fill the information vacuum. Francisco Sanchez, the county's deputy emergency emergency management coordinator, said his office often must relay secondhand information to the public.
"What happened at the site is a flare-up, or re-ignition of fire, which we saw the potential for and planned for," he said. "They're moving chemicals exposed to the environment, and those chemicals are not designed to be transported in that way."
Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo declined to comment Friday, for fear of compromising the county's investigation.
Jennifer Tijerina's husband, Sam, said he was frustrated by the amount of inaccurate social media posts, which residents often turn to when official sources offer little.
"What's next?" he asked. "It's not right. It's not fair. It's not OK."
Breach causes leak
The first sign of trouble Friday emerged before dawn.
Around 4:38 a.m., one air monitor testing for carcinogenic benzene about 500 yards from the tank farm picked up an elevated reading, according to the Harris County Emergency Management Office. The reading was higher than one Thursday that prompted a shelter-in-place order for temporary Deer Park.
An ITC spokesman said that because the Friday reading was "localized," there was no need for a public notice or shelter-in-place order. No other nearby monitors picked up elevated benzene readings, according to a map on the county's emergency management website.
Shortly after noon, ITC announced a breach on the north side of the facility's perimeter that allowed chemicals and detritus from the blaze to flow into nearby waterways.
"We have learned that a portion of the tank farm containment wall containing the product has partially collapsed. Industrial neighbors and the Texas Battleship and Monument State Park should consider taking shelter-in-place precautions," said ITC spokesman Dale Samuelson.
Officials noted that such a breach could undermine the foam blanket that is coating the tank farm in the hopes of preventing flare-ups and the release of further toxins from the facility, where holding tanks began exploding on Sunday.
Sure enough, the site's afternoon reignition and resulting airborne pollution led Port of Houston officials to close part of the ship channel from Tucker Bayou to Light 116. The Ship Channel Bridge also briefly closed.
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality said workers were trying to contain toxins from flowing downstream by placing additional booms in the water, and said an ITC contractor is collecting and storing contaminated runoff.
"TCEQ is working to fully assess and mitigate any wider impact," the agency said.
The wall breach came shortly after ITC officials said crews could spend up to 12 hours pumping pyrolysis gasoline out of one of tanks and that during that time, the risk of benzene exposure in the air will increase.
"There's going to be a lot of agitation in the tank when we start the pumping," Brent Weber, ITC incident commander, said. "There is an elevated risk of benzene emission during this time."
Pyrolysis gasoline, also known as "pygas" is a benzene-rich liquid byproduct that can be blended with other chemicals for use as a gasoline additive. That chemical was the source of a benzene spike Thursday morning, after it leaked out from foam covering one of the tanks. City leaders issued a shelter in place that lasted several hours.
ITC officials estimated Thursday that 14,000 barrels of pygas remained in that tank. However, ITC officials said Friday that about 20,000 barrels remained.
Crews attempted to pump pygas from the tank on Thursday, but the effort didn't work, Weber said, in part because of an less-than-ideal environment concerning the positioning of the pump, Weber said.
Aside from the roughly 20,000 barrels of product in the one tank, about 40,000 more barrels are expected to be removed, Weber said. Not all tanks are compromised, but they contain pygas and naptha, which have some percentage of benzene.
New fireballs erupt
Flames and dark smoke billowed from ITC around 3:30 p.m. Minutes later, Sarai Aranda received a panicked call from her son Raymond, an ITC employee. Raymond Aranda, 34, said there had been an explosion at the plant, he feared his truck was on fire, and he saw no escape from the flames.
"He says, 'Mom, don't get scared, but I'm here, and I'm trapped,'" Sarai Aranda said.
The Pasadena mother rushed to the plant. Raymond Aranda said he and colleagues had been evacuated east to the San Jacinto Monument, where he was unharmed. Sarai Aranda said she feels drained after six days of worrying about her son.
"I don't want him to work there anymore," she said.
Unlike a brief flare-up on Wednesday, which crews extinguished within minutes, the blaze on Friday spread rapidly.
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When viewed from television helicopters, flames appeared in at least two locations: the pod containing 15 tanks that burned from Sunday to Wednesday and a new location, a ditch leading from ITC to the ship channel.
Prior to the eruption, television footage showed the tank farm covered with less foam than on Thursday, when the white substance appeared as if a heavy snow had fallen. ITC officials said earlier the foam, designed to fight chemicals, is necessary to seal the volatile compounds from the atmosphere, preventing emissions leaks and fires.
By around 4:30, firefighters using flame-retardant foam appeared to have the fires under control.
ATF joins probe
The Harris County Fire Marshal's Office asked for ATF's help because of the severe nature and size of the fire, spokeswoman Rachel Moreno said. Key questions remain about the blaze, including how and where it started, why it could not be contained by local firefighters, and what the company could have done to prevent it.
ATF's Houston branch often helps with local fire probes, but Harris County is also asking for the assistance of the bureau's National Response Team, which aids major investigations, such as the 2013 fertilizer plant explosion in West. The NRT last joined a Harris County probe in 2012, when a three-alarm blaze ripped through a Cleveland flea market.
ATF agents have agreed to evaluate the fire scene, which on Friday remained too unsafe for investigators to visit. The bureau's leaders would then determine how much assistance to provide Harris County.
The federal government would also provide fire investigators at no charge to Harris County, which otherwise faces the prospect of conducting an expensive probe, sending a bill to ITC and hoping the company pays.
"It will be up to the ATF to decide what they can bring in," Moreno said. "Any resources we can get that will help us solve this will be welcome."
The Harris County Attorney, Vince Ryan, has asked permission from Commissioners Court to bring suit against ITC, based on the results of the investigation.
Staff writers Samantha Ketterer, Godofredo Vasquez, Julian Gill, Rebecca Schuetz and Andrea Leinfelder contributed reporting.
zach.despart@chron.com
mike.morris@chron.com
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