|
The
fire, which sent a plume of black smoke across the city's
eastern half and was visible from 10 miles (16 km) away , began
in a giant storage tank containing naphtha, a volatile component
of gasoline, at about 10:30 a.m. on Sunday.
By evening, it had engulfed a second tank containing xylene, a
petrochemical that is also a component of gasoline, officials of
the Intercontinental Terminals Co (ITC) said.
By early Monday morning, the fire had spread to five additional
tanks, company officials said in a press release. Those tanks
contained finished gasoline and base oil commonly used as
machine lubricants, officials said.
"ITC officials continue working with local first responders to
contain the fire," the company said in a statement. "The safety
of our employees, the surrounding community and the environment
is our first priority."
The burning tanks are surrounded by several other storage tanks
within a spill containment dike.
Ships continued to ply the channel linking refineries and
chemical plants in Houston and Texas City, Texas, with the Gulf
of Mexico, with the only curb an order from the U.S. Coast Guard
not to dock at ITC or an adjoining terminal.
The fire was not affecting operations at the nearby Royal Dutch
Shell Plc joint-venture refinery in Deer Park, said Shell
spokesman Ray Fisher.
ITC was deploying fire-suppressing foam to control the fire,
Vice President Alice Richardson said earlier.
"We're fighting this fire defensively to keep it contained to
this tank," she told a news conference.
(Reporting by Erwin Seba; Additional reporting by Rich McKay;
Editing by Daniel Wallis/Clarence Fernandez and Emelia
Sithole-Matarise)
[© 2019 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2019 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
|
|
