Fire chemical plant in Pasadena contained; emergency officials say cause of incident unknown
PASADENA, Texas (KTRK) -- Crews are still responding to the scene of a fire that broke out at the LyondellBasell plant in Pasadena late Thursday night.
The Harris County Fire Marshal's Office told Eyewitness News that two tanks caught fire and that no injuries were reported. The fire marshal's office posted on social media that the facility is a chemical process unit and that everyone at the plant was accounted for.
LyondellBasell said the fire was reported at the company's Bayport Choate site around 9 p.m.
In a 6:42 a.m. update Friday, the La Porte Office of Emergency Management (OEM) said the main fire was out, but to continue to expect activity in and around the facility. SkyEye flew over the facility again at around 8:30 a.m., where small flames could be seen coming from the plant but appeared to be contained.
In a statement overnight, Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo said first responders were still working to close a valve releasing a mixture of chemicals.
Eyewitness News crews at the scene saw heavy flaring coming from the facility throughout the night.
"While residents are understandably concerned because there is a large plume of smoke in the air, the chemicals burning off are not posing a threat to the community," the judge added.
La Porte officials said air monitoring was underway "with no actionable readings reported at this time," and that no action is needed from the community.
They said the facility is still working to determine the cause of the incident.
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality told 13 Investigates it conducted fenceline air monitoring of the facility and that Harris County Pollution Control conducted additional air monitoring.
"TCEQ is in contact with the facility and will investigate the incident," the agency said in a statement.
Records show TCEQ previously investigated LyondellBasell's Bayport facility for emissions events that happened last year.
ABC13 found that there have been 36 instances of unauthorized air contaminants released at the Bayport facility in the last five years, according to TCEQ records. The agency's online documents show the company did make some corrections after the alleged violations.
Eyewitness News also found LyondellBasell has been fined $139,000 in the last five years for violating the Clean Air Act at that facility.
