A worker suffered minor burns from a chemical plant explosion and fire in San Jacinto County that sent a plume of black smoke as far as the Louisiana border on Wednesday morning.
For six hours, emergency personnel urged residents in nearby neighborhoods to take shelter as they worked to put out the blaze.
The injured person was identified as an employee at the plant owned by Sound Resource Solutions, an industrial chemical manufacturer, according to San Jacinto County's Emergency Management Coordinator Emmitt Eldridge. Company President Geoff Harfield said during a news conference that the employee had been operating a forklift when the fire began.
An initial investigation found that the forklift operator "noticed chemicals leaking from a container, he went to lift that container up and then noticed there was a fire," Eldridge said, but he could not indicate whether the fire was ignited before or after the lift.
The worker was taken to Memorial Medical Center where his condition stabilized. Harfield said he was with his family and doing well.
"He's been taken care of well, and that's really our biggest focus," Harfield said.
EXPLAINER: What does it mean to shelter in place?
Explosion timeline
The San Jacinto County Office of Emergency Management posted a warning on Facebook after a call came in around 8:17 a.m. about an explosion at 731 FM 1127 Road.
Initially, residents living in a 5-mile radius were told to shelter in place, but by 10:28 a.m. the Office of Emergency Management reduced that perimeter to one mile "after scene assessment of the plant fire." Neighboring Polk County also recommended a shelter-in-place for residents living near the highway from Goodrich to Leggett.
Six hours after first responders began fighting the blaze, shortly after 2 p.m., the San Jacinto County Office of Emergency Management lifted all shelter orders.
U.S. Highway 59 was closed for hours between Shepherd and Livingston as first responders worked to put out the fire. Eldridge said crews continued to fight smaller flares into the evening. Traffic was backed up into Montgomery County, according to the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office.
San Jacinto County Sheriff Greg Capers said investigators learned the explosion had been caused by flammable liquid, possibly turpentine and other chemicals.
"We work in oil and gas, paint and coatings and wastewater treatment," said Harfield, the company president. "The flammable material we handle is very similar to diesel... it's the same danger you have when you're pumping your gas."
According to Harfield, the company brings in 30 truckloads of raw materials and ships out another 30 of finished goods every day.
Air quality impacts
A nearby private school, Wildwood Academy, evacuated 31 students through residential property to the Shepherd Independent School District Administration Building. Additional schools that posted on social media about sheltering in place included Livingston ISD, Leggett ISD and Corrigan-Camden ISD. Goodrich ISD reportedly evacuated students to Onalaska ISD where parents could pick up their children.
A chemical plant exploded in San Jacinto County Wednesday morning and emergency personnel were asking residents in nearby neighborhoods to take shelter.
Ken Ellis/Houston ChronicleThe explosion affected nearby areas including Polk and Tyler counties. According to Polk County Emergency Management, the plume from the chemical plant had been headed toward the Livingston area.
TEXAS AIR QUALITY MAP AND TRACKER: Air quality ratings for Houston and across Texas, updated every 10 minutes.
According to Justin Ballard, the Houston Chronicle's newsroom meteorologist, winds were coming from the southwest which meant the plume spread further into other areas.
"It got to the Texas and Louisiana border before it became too difficult to see on the satellite," he said.
There were no air quality impacts expected for Houston, according to Brian Kyle with the National Weather Service in Houston.
People living close to the fire who could not shelter in place likely had some exposure to particulate pollution known as PM 2.5 from the smoke, said Grace Tee Lewis, a health scientist with the Environmental Defense Fund.
In large enough quantities, particulate pollution "has been associated with a range of different health outcomes, everything from asthma and respiratory diseases to heart attacks, strokes, diabetes and neurological issues," Lewis said.
Lewis said she could not tell whether the smoke contained other harmful chemicals since there are no public air monitors installed close to the facility.
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality also responded to the fire. At an afternoon new conference the agency's Director of External Relations, Ryan Vise, said it had deployed two monitoring vans from Austin and Beaumont to assess air quality throughout the evening. By 4 p.m. they were still en route.
"We have folks currently on scene... to assess the site and oversee what needs to be done regarding remediation and cleanup," Vise said.
Destruction from the fire
San Jacinto County officials said during the afternoon news conference that the smoke plumes were already shrinking, the fire was contained and there were no chemicals in the air.
"We've been a part of the community since 2014. We employ almost 40 people ... what we're grateful for is that every one of those people (is) going to be home eating dinner with their family tonight," Harfield said.
According to Harfield, the company plans to provide a statement to community members once the investigation is complete. Rep. Ernest Bailes, R-Shepherd, wrote on Facebook that he was also informed of the explosion and was working to get more information.
"It's been handled in a very reasonable way," said Alan Rossiter, spokesman for University of Houston Division of Energy and Innovation. "Whenever there is a release of chemicals and fluids you have to be concerned about what's in those chemicals and what sort of hazards they pose."
Rossiter has watched the fire in San Jacinto County.
"There is a lot of work that goes into the engineering of the plants, the design and also the way they're maintained and operated, and many rigs license that also control this, and so a lot of work goes into trying to into making them as safe as possible," Rossiter said.
When asked at a news conference if there was anything left of his business, Harfield said no, "but we'll worry about that tomorrow."
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