Hundreds of residents of an area south of Houston, Texas, had to take refuge in their homes for several hours Saturday because of the fire that broke out in an aircraft factory and burned chemicals, authorities said. No casualties have been reported.
Around 4:00 in the morning an alarm went off at the plant of the High Tech Finishing company located in the Bellaire area, warning of flames inside, according to the Houston Chronicle. Authorities then sent residents an alert message: "Close doors and windows and turn off air conditioning to limit exposure."
Houston Fire Department Chief Samuel Pena said firefighters cleaned up the area. "They have to move some things, but they are doing it cautiously because the metal building has suffered serious damage and we are not going to risk any firefighters being injured," he said.
According to the first investigations, everything indicates that the fire broke out accidentally. "Part of the process overheated and that's where it looks like the fire started," said Pena, who said the factory was empty at the time of the fire.
The plant, which contains a wide variety of chemicals, was subjected to a Fire Department inspection this May, which found no serious violations, according to the Houston Chronicle.
[A huge mechanical dragon catches fire at Disneyland during a nighttime show]
The confinement order was initially issued for all homes within 1.5 miles of the fire site, but the perimeter was later lowered to half a mile.
"We issued an on-site advisory as concern for the particles" burned, Peña said, but "there was no danger of explosion," he said. Still, "airborne particles could be respiratory irritants," he said.
The alert was lifted around 2:00 p.m. (local time). Officials said it would remain in place until at least three air quality tests were conducted, a process in which the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency participated.
