Nine workers were taken to the hospital Friday afternoon after a fire broke out at the Shell Chemical Plant located in Deer Park, Texas, just outside of Houston.
While the blaze was brought under control later that day, the fire eventually reignited and continued to burn for several more hours.
Our Refinery Explosion Lawyers are currently representing 7 contractors who were injured during the explosion.
Shell Deer Park Fire Erupted on Olefins Unit
First responders were called to the Shell Deer Park petrochemical plant, located at 5900 SH-225 at East Beltway, around 3:00 p.m. local time on Friday, May 5th.
According to preliminary reports, the fire originated at the heat exchanger while workers were conducting routine maintenance on the olefins unit. A leak ignited, triggering a large fire.
Officials initially reported that five contract workers had been taken to the hospital, but later confirmed that six had been transferred by paramedics and three had traveled to the ER on their own. One of the injured workers suffered burns to his face and arms from the hot oil, according to reports from his father.
“The doctor says he’s doing well. He’s doing good, but I have seen a lot of the arms, the face all red. Red burns on his body, “he said. “His face is red hot. His arms – everything, because the oil and the steam splashed everywhere in his body.”
Authorities have not identified the injured workers’ employers.
Shell Deer Park Fire Reignited Saturday Afternoon
While the initial fire was extinguished by Friday evening, clouds of thick black smoke were once again rising from the Shell Deer Park facility by Saturday afternoon.
“Earlier today, it was announced that the fire at Shell’s Deer Park Chemicals facility had been extinguished. Emergency response crews remained active to monitor for hot spots and at approximately 3:14 p.m., some remaining product reignited,” Shell said in a statement. “Response crews are responding to the fire and all employees and contractors are accounted for with no injuries reported.”
Several Deer Park residents also reported that strange, ominous rumbling coming from the plant had kept them awake Friday night and into early Saturday morning.
“It was a loud rumble, almost like a jet airplane hovering over your home,” she remembered. “It was really frightening because it gave you this feeling of impending doom, like there might be an explosion coming next because it was so loud, extraordinarily loud.”
Saturday’s flare-up continued to burn for hours and was not extinguished until about 6:00 p.m.
However, as was the case on Friday, authorities did not issue a shelter-in-place order for the surrounding area. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality was conducting handheld and mobile air monitoring but said they had not detected anything of concern in the neighborhoods near the plant.
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Our Undefeated Houston Refinery Fire Lawyers are currently representing 7 contractors who were injured during the explosion and have been contacted by numerous more. We will post updates as new information becomes available.
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