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Tuesday, March 19, 2019

Texas petrochemicals blaze blankets Houston area in black smoke

The ongoing fire at a petrochemicals storage terminal in Deer Park, Texas, intensified overnight, blanketing parts of the Houston area in dramatic clouds of black smoke on Tuesday.

The blaze ripped through the Intercontinental Terminals facility for a third day, worsening after a drop in water pressure hampered attempts by first responders to contain the fire. By Tuesday morning, flames had engulfed eight of the facility's 242 tanks, though two were empty.

The fire broke out on Sunday morning in a storage tank containing naphtha, a super light oil used to make high-grade gasoline, jet fuel and petrochemicals. It later spread to tanks containing another gasoline component and a chemical used to make nail polish remover and glue.

Despite the stunning images of smoke billowing from the facility, air monitoring continues to show readings are well below hazardous levels, Intercontinental Terminals said in a press release on Tuesday. The company also said no injuries have been reported.

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