Houston, May 8 (BNA): A fire broke out for the third day on Sunday at the chemical plant of Shell plc in the Deer Park suburb of Houston, Texas, a company spokesman said.
The fire was initially sparked on Friday afternoon by an explosion in an olefins unit used to make plastics and rubber.
Shell spokesman Curtis Smith reported that the fire was put out for a few hours on Saturday morning before it broke out again around 3 p.m. CST (2000 GMT).
There were no reports of injuries. Nine people were evaluated and released at local hospitals on Friday for possible exposure to the chemicals.
Water is being sprayed onto the fire, Smith said, to keep it under control so the chemicals, which were being processed at the time of the explosion, burn off.
He said water may continue to be sprayed for up to 36 hours after the fire has been put out to keep nearby equipment cool.
Smith said the runoff has exceeded the chemical plant’s wastewater capacity and is being diverted into the Houston Ship Canal. A boom was deployed into the canal to contain any chemicals that the water runoff might carry.
Smith said air monitoring in nearby communities “did not detect any harmful levels of chemicals” from the fire.
Jennifer Hedaya, chief executive of Air Alliance Houston, said Shell’s statements about the risks to the community were self-serving.
“History has shown that these early statements are in the interest of industry public relations, not public health,” Hedaya said.
Olefins are the central units in petrochemical complexes, producing ethylene, butadiene, and propylene from hydrocarbon feedstocks.
WWA