At around 3:43 p.m. on Friday afternoon, a plume of black smoke shot up from the Intercontinental Terminals Company, the Houston Chronicle reported. A wall surrounding the damaged tank farm at the chemical storage facility breached, increasing the risk that airborne and liquid toxins will be released from the site.
"We have learned that a portion of the tank farm containment wall containing the product has partially collapsed. Industrial neighbors and the Texas Battleship and Monument State Park should consider taking shelter-in-place precautions," said Intercontinental Terminals Co. spokesman Dale Samuelson. "We are coordinating with federal, state and local officials to resolve the issue as soon as possible."
County emergency operations spokesman Aaron Ewing said local officials are working under an ongoing air monitoring plan to assess the situation at the facility where holding tanks began exploding on Sunday and burned for days, he told the Houston Chronicle. Officials noted that such a breach could affect the effectiveness of the foam blanket that is coating the tank farm in the hopes of preventing flare-ups and the release of further toxins.
About the same time of the breach, which occurred on the north side of the wall, Port of Houston officials closed part of the ship channel, due to pollution from the fire. A spokesman said the channel is closed from Tucker Bayou to Light 116. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality said workers were trying to contain toxins from flowing downstream by placing additional booms in the water, and said an ITC contractor is collecting and storing contaminated runoff.
Watch live coverage of the fire from ABC 13.
