HOUSTON — A chemical fire in southwest Houston has some nearby residents concerned.
It happened Saturday near the intersection of Bellaire Boulevard and Chimney Rock Road. Houston Fire Department investigators are still trying to figure out what happened and what caused the fire.
Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said the state bears some of the responsibility due to certain laws that are and are not, in place.
Crews on Monday were still cleaning up the aftermath of the fire. Linda Norah-Davis has lived in the area for 20 years. She said the fire at High Tech Finishing has ignited some worry.
"Very concerning because it was about 10:30, 10:40 before we had any alerts," Norah-Davis said. "I live in a community where most of us are older, a lot of us live alone and, of course, I’m a paraplegic in a wheelchair so it’s imperative that I know ahead of time so that I can make provisions for them to either evacuate me if that’s the plan in advance."
The alerts didn't get to her until about three hours after the fire started.
"I was already standing out there for 30 minutes while the fire was going on and to find out it was a chemical fire the whole time ... I was, like, dang, should I have worn a mask?" Connor McNamara said.
Turner said the Texas Legislature has made it hard for cities, including Houston, to be in the know when it comes to potentially dangerous chemicals.
"(HFD) Chief (Samuel) Peña, for I think two or three sessions in a row, has asked the Legislature to make it a requirement for businesses, or those with chemicals, to identify, at least to the fire departments, what those chemicals are," Turner said. "We do need added notification of when people are storing chemicals, especially in close proximity to where people live, or quite frankly, where other businesses are."
The City of Bellaire said it provided support to HFD and also notified residents about the shelter-in-place order. Norah-Davis said she thinks there should be a task force to update the alert system across the Houston area.
"Make sure that you alert the residents, whenever there's a fire or when there's ever chemicals that may affect the health of the people in the neighborhood," Norah-Davis said.
KHOU 11 News reached out to High Tech Finishing for a comment but hasn't heard back. HFD said it's reviewing the fire reports to figure out what happened. They said they were thankful that no one was injured.