Texas Officials Issue Shelter-in-Place Order After Chemical Plant Explosion

Smoke fills the sky from a chemical plant fire in Shepherd, Texas, on Nov. 8, 2023. XTRK via AP

Texas authorities have issued a shelter-in-place order and advised residents to turn off heating, ventilation, and cooling systems in their homes after a chemical plant explosion on Wednesday.

There are no deaths being reported from the explosion and only one injury.

The explosion took place at Sound Resource Solutions, an industrial chemical and raw material distribution company in Shepherd, Texas, a rural town around 60 miles northeast of Houston.

Polk County Emergency Management said that the plume from the smoke is traveling to the Livingston, Texas, area.

“At this time, the effects of the chemical in the air are unknown,” the department said.

The company stores wood turpentine, phosphoric acid, xylene, diesel fuel, IMP-IC-2012, sulfuric acid, CDA-121, NP 9, isopropyl alcohol, IMB-BAC-2, AZA-121 dispersant, and acetic acid, the department said.

“These chemicals are known to have acute toxicity, carcinogenicity, and reproductive toxicity, and may cause serious eye damage or eye irritation, skin corrosion or irritation, aspiration hazard, and organ toxicity,” the department said.

Sheriff Greg Capers told reporters that 31 children had to be evacuated from Wildwood Academy, a private school in the area, and were taken to a local administration building.

“We had to evacuate them through a pasture,” he said. “A man owns a large piece of property over there, and they were gracious enough to open the gates and allow these vehicles to traverse his land.”

One employee was injured with minor burns, he said.

Only 19 of the 37 employees were at work at the time of the explosion, he said.

Geoff Harfield, president of Sound Resource Solutions, said the company has been in the Shephard community since 2014, adding that he’s grateful his employees are safe.

Though his employees operate in a hazardous environment, they are trained, and the chemicals they handle are like household cleaning solutions.

Polk County's map of shelter-in-place order for Texas chemical explosion, November 2023. Courtesy of Polk County Sheriff's Department

Previous Chemical Plant Explosions

Earlier this year, in March, a chemical plant owned by INEOS Phenol exploded in Houston, injuring one person and sending off large clouds of black smoke.

The facility is known for producing herbicides, pesticides, and cleaning products made from an organic compound called cumene.

Cumine is known to cause headaches, dizziness, drowsiness, and ultimately unconsciousness, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

In LaSalle, Illinois, the Carus Chemical Company caught fire in January, prompting officials to issue a shelter-in-place order.

The plant made an oxidant used to treat drinking and wastewater, phosphates for corrosion control, and carbon capture products for air purification, according to a report.

In East Palestine, Ohio, the February derailment of the Norfolk Southern freight train carrying hazardous chemicals such as vinyl chloride prompted officials to declare a state of emergency.

The railcars storing the material burned for over two days, causing multiple health problems for residents while polluting the town’s air, water, and soil.

Local residents reported feeling unwell and finding domestic animals dead.

One woman reported her chickens to have died after the vinyl chloride was released.

“My video camera footage shows my chickens were perfectly fine before they started this burn, and as soon as they started the burn, my chickens slowed down, and they died,” Amanda Breshears of North Lima, Ohio, told ABC27. “If it can do this to chickens in one night, imagine what it’s going to do to us in 20 years.”

Last year, an explosion took place at the Symrise Chemical Plant in Glynn County, Georgia, that led to the evacuation of the surrounding neighborhoods, with no deaths or injuries reported.

In Omaha, Nebraska, an explosion took place at the Nox-Crete facility.

Officials said no injuries were reported and that the toxicity posed no risk to the public.

Facilities in the US

According to Poynter, up to 39 percent of the population lives within three miles of one chemical plant.

“These facilities range from petroleum refineries and large chemical manufacturers to water and wastewater treatment systems; chemical and petroleum wholesalers and terminals; food manufacturers, packing plants, and other cold storage facilities with ammonia refrigeration systems; agricultural chemical distributors; midstream gas plants; and a limited number of other sources, including Federal installations,” Poynter reported the EPA to say.

According to The Guardian’s February analysis of the Environmental Protection Agency on chemical accidents, over the last 10 years, the department has responded to incidents an average of 235 times a year.

According to the Coalition to Prevent Chemical Disasters (CPCD), on average, every two days, there is a chemical fire, explosion, or toxic chemical release.

“The EPA’s Risk Management Program (RMP) rule regulates around 12,000 facilities in the United States that use or store highly hazardous chemicals, and is intended to prevent chemical disasters,” the CPCD said. “But chemical incidents including fires, explosions and toxic releases are occurring far too frequently every year, harming workers and communities.”

According to EPA data the CPCD reported, there are 150 serious incidents on average at RMP facilities that occur each year.

“But this does not include the fires, releases, and explosions that occur with regularity at facilities not covered by the RMP, or incidents involving hazardous materials being transported by rail or highway,” CPCD said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.