DEER PARK, Texas — Shell officials said they're directing runoff water from the Deer Park Chemicals facility fire into the Houston Ship Channel as a "controlled discharge."
In a statement released Sunday morning, Shell said that their wastewater storage capacity had been "exceeded" and that they'll be deploying a boom to prevent products from entering the channel.
Water is also being added to retention ponds nearby as officials said they expect they'll continue to need large volumes of water to cool equipment for up to 36 hours after the fire is extinguished.
Officials said they're still monitoring the air quality and that no harmful levels of chemicals affecting neighboring communities have been detected.
The fire at the chemical plant reignited Saturday afternoon after being extinguished. The fire continued to burn into Sunday night. In a tweet, Shell Deer Park said the fire "has been contained to a controlled zone."
The company went on to say additional clean-up crews have been deployed and air monitoring is still ongoing as of Sunday night.
Nine contractors were released from the hospital Friday night after Shell Deer Park Chemicals said they were exposed to a product during a large plant fire.
The company said the workers received precautionary treatment. No serious injuries were reported.
There was not a shelter-in-place order issued, though the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality was monitoring the air quality near the plant.
Shell released a statement around 9:20 p.m. Friday, saying the fire started around 3 p.m. while routine maintenance was being done on the olefins unit.
Harris County Fire Marshal Captain James Singleton said his office would work through the weekend investigating the incident.
“You’re looking at a large number of people that need to be interviewed,” Singleton said. “Everyone who was at the unit at the time of the fire, the controllers, management, anybody that called 911."