Dec. 5, 2004
By ANNE MARIE KILDAY AND RHEA DAVIS
Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle
An explosion at a chemical plant in far southwest Houston Friday night was caused by a mechanical failure in a tank, but investigators still don't know what started the fire, Houston Fire Department officials said Saturday.
Investigators' ruling that the explosion was sparked by a failure in a tank of polyethylene indicates the fire was not intentionally set, District Fire Chief Tommy Dowdy said.
What sparked the blaze at Marcus Oil and Chemical may take weeks for Houston fire investigators to determine, said Deputy Fire Chief Terry Stone.
"I don't know what the cause is yet," Stone said. "I don't think it was sabotage, but I'd like the investigators to finish their jobs. We're not ruling out anything."
Nine people were injured in multiple explosions, including two firefighters. None of the injuries was life-threatening.
As construction crews worked to scrape hardened polyethylene wax off the plant's parking lot Saturday, city, state and federal officials continued to sift through the debris for clues to the fire's cause.
Abbas Hassan, one of the plant's owners, speculated Saturday that lightning might have hit the plant.
"It was an empty tank that exploded. We don't know anything else at this point," he said. "Our gut feeling is that lightning struck it. I don't think it was done on purpose."
Dowdy said he hadn't heard Hassan's theory about lightning, but said it was too early to tell.
"I wouldn't rule it out," Dowdy said. "There was rain going through the area, and explosions happen when lightning strikes gas tanks."
EVALUATION BY FEDERAL TEAM
A federal team of investigators from the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigations Board will decide next week whether the blast merits a full, one-year investigation, said board member John Bresland.
Bresland, one of five board members, flew in from Washington, D.C., Saturday to meet with a three-member team of engineers and chemists who will conduct a preliminary investigation of the fire, he said.
The board has no authority to levy fines or penalties, but could make a report to the company's owners, to the chemical industry or to the community about the blaze, Bresland said.
Bresland said any federal probe would be complicated by the fact that the company's "entire administration building, with all of its files and records" was destroyed in the fire.
If the board decides to conduct an intensive investigation of Marcus Oil and Chemical, Bresland said there would be at least one public hearing about the impact of the fire on the community.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, 124,580 people live within a three-mile radius of the facility. The dense population around the plant made the fire particularly dangerous, Stone said.
"In this type of explosion there could have been many fatalities," Stone said. "It's hard to protect yourself from an explosion like this."
Plant owner Hassan said the tank that exploded was filled with nitrogen pressure. The tank can hold 40,000 gallons of wax, but only had a few inches of the liquid in it Friday night, Hassan said.
Officials from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality were at the scene throughout the night Friday and Saturday, testing air and water samples. No hazardous materials had been detected, Dowdy said.
PLANS TO REOPEN PLANT
Hassan said four of his workers were locking up the office when the explosion rocked the plant. He hopes insurance will cover the damages, which he estimated to be in the millions of dollars, and plans to reopen the plant.
"We are still working with the bureaucrats," he said. "We will have to see what they say."
The explosion Friday was the second to rip through the plant in less than a year. Last Dec. 20, a flange on a tanker broke, leaking hot oil that burst into flames when it hit the cool air.
During that incident, about 52 members of the nearby New Deliverance Church at 14538 Minetta suffered what pastor Janice Caslin called "severe smoke and fume inhalation" and were treated at nearby emergency rooms. The members had negotiated a $50,000 settlement with plant officials that was supposed to be paid a week ago.
"Plant officials fought us tooth and nail all year," Caslin said on Saturday.
Attorneys negotiating the settlement could not be reached Saturday but, according to Caslin, church members still expect payment from the plant.
The Marcus Oil and Chemical plant is in the 14500 block of Minetta, near the intersection of Fondren and Main. Bresland said the company is owned by "twin brothers" who also own and operate similar chemical plants in India and in Sarnia, Ontario.
Bresland said the company buys polyethylene from other chemical companies in the Houston area.
According to the EPA's Enforcement and Compliance History online, Marcus Oil and Chemical holds state and federal permits to generate and transport large amounts of hazardous waste.
The last federal inspection at the company was on Jan. 29, 1989. There have been no inspections by the EPA at the site in the last three years, nor any enforcement actions.
In the explosion Friday, officials said pressurized tanks exploded and flames spread to a large warehouse where finished wax was stored and caught fire.
'I'M STILL SHAKING'
Carol Abercrombie, 67, lives a mile from the plant and was a few hundred feet from the plant when it exploded. She said she hoped state officials wouldn't allow it to reopen.
"The people from the company told us before there is nothing that could explode," she said. "They were obviously lying. I hope they don't rebuild it. It's a danger to our community."
She said she thought she was going to die in the explosion.
"I'm still shaking," she said Saturday afternoon.
District Fire Chief Blake White, who oversees the HFD's Hazardous Materials Team, said that the polyethylene fire was not likely to impact Houston's air quality.
"It's more an irritant than anything else. It is not going to cause any long-term problems for anybody (who was) on the scene," White said.
Chronicle reporters Lori Rodriguez and Dina Cappiello contributed to this story.
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/topstory/2932222