5 hurt after fire at Houston-area Shell petrochemical plant
CTV
Fire erupted at a petrochemical plant in the Houston area Friday, leaving five workers hospitalized and sending up a huge plume of smoke visible for miles.
Fire erupted at a petrochemical plant in the Houston area Friday, leaving five workers hospitalized and sending up a huge plume of smoke visible for miles.
Emergency responders were called to help around 3 p.m. at the Shell facility in Deer Park, a suburb east of Houston. The city of Deer Park said in an advisory that there was no shelter-in-place order for residents.
Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said five contracted employees were hospitalized for precautionary reasons, adding that they were not burned. He said they were taken to a hospital due to heat exhaustion and proximity to the fire.
Nothing exploded, Gonzalez said, although the sheriff's office initially responded to emergency calls saying there was an explosion.
As of Friday evening, the fire was still burning but had died down and was contained, Gonzalez said.
The cause of the blaze was still being investigated. Officials said they were monitoring the air for any impact from the fire but so far there was nothing that was concerning.
The fire at Shell's Deer Park Chemicals facility started at about 2:56 p.m. in the olefins unit, the company said on Twitter. The product that ignited includes cracked heavy gas oil, cracked light gas oil and gasoline, according to Shell Deer Park.
