On Sunday morning, an ITC tank area in Deer Park caught on fire. It started with four tanks catching on fire and it expanded to being a total of eight tanks as of today.

These tanks contained highly flammable chemicals. The fire was so bad that there was a cloud of smoke above all of Houston spreading to many counties outside of the city.

ITC officials stated, “There is nothing toxic in the smoke in spite of reports of small debris falling.”

Due to the huge cloud of smoke, many schools in the Deer Park ISD had to close down until the fire was put out. Many parents did not want their kids going to school due to the risk of more tanks catching on fire and the schools being just miles away from the fire.

After many days of trying to put out the fire, firefighters were finally able to put it out early Wednesday morning. Later on in the day, at around five in the afternoon, the fire ignited again but officials were able to put it out quickly. Although it has been put out, there is still a possibility for the fire to ignite again, and there will still be some smoke in the air. Officials are still monitoring the air for any hazardous pollution.