ITC tank farm fire reignites: Update 2

Updates and recasts lead with fire reignited

A fire reginited today at Intercontinental Terminals' (ITC) storage facility in Deer Park, Texas.

"There has been a re-ignition on the left side of the tank containment area," the company said. The situation is under investigation.

Earlier today, the dike wall at the ITC facility partially collapsed releasing foam used to extinguish a previous fire this week into the Houston Ship Channel.

The dike along Tucker's Bayou collapsed at approximately 1:15pm ET according to the City of Deer Park, Texas, office of emergency management. The US Coast Guard closed a section of the ship channel from Tucker's Bayou to light 116 shortly thereafter.

ITC sent out a shelter-in-place notification to industrial neighbors and the San Jacinto Texas State Historic Site, but has not yet extended it to the city of Deer Park.

A fire first broke out at ITC on 16 March when a naphtha tank manifold leaked and ignited, according to a filing to state environmental monitors. The fire later spread to tanks holding toluene and xylene.

The fire was first extinguished on 20 March after many days of fire crews covering the site in foam. High levels of benzene have been reported since then, leading to numerous shelter-in-place warnings, as the foam dissipates or washes away.