Experts are worried about volatile chemicals at Houston plant, but not alarmed
The breakdown of volatile chemicals that ignited a fire at a chemical plant outside Houston is cause for concern but not necessarily a major threat to public health, authorities and experts said Thursday.
“At this time we are responding to a fire, not a chemical release,” the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality said in a statement. “Our focus remains on the safety of those around the facility, and we urge everyone in the area to follow the safety instruction of local authorities, specifically avoiding smoke and floodwaters.”
Black smoke from a fire still burning at the Arkema plant Wednesday is dangerous, said Terry Collins, a Teresa Heinz professor of green chemistry at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh: “You do not want to be breathing fumes from this plant.” The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and the Environmental Protection Agency evacuated 300 homes around the facility in Crosby, Tex., in anticipation of the fire days before it happened.
Fifteen sheriff’s deputies and first responders were rushed to a hospital as a precaution and decontaminated after complaining of irritation and itching from smoke that wafted from the plant. They were released, and a sheriff’s official said, “They’re all fine.”
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/experts-are-worried-about-volatile-chemicals-at-houston-plant-but-not-alarmed/ar-AAr3yBm?li=BBnb7Kz
Not a threat to public health but you don't want to breath the fumes? Are these just basic smoke fumes from the fire but it could get worse? Or are they just blowing smoke?
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