A chemical plant fire near Houston kills 1 person and forces a lockdown

Source: CNN

A chemical plant fire near Houston kills 1 person and forces a lockdown
By Holly Yan and Rebekah Riess, CNN

Updated 4:09 PM ET, Tue April 2, 2019

(CNN) -- For the second time in three weeks, a Houston-area chemical plant has caught fire, sending thick plumes of black smoke into the sky.

At least one person was killed Tuesday at the KMCO plant in Crosby, Texas, Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said. ... Two others are in critical condition and were taken by helicopter to a hospital, fire marshal's office spokeswoman Rachel Moreno said.

The fire is contained, she said, but firefighters are working to keep it from spreading.

The incident started when a transfer line ignited in the area of a tank holding isobutylene, according to the sheriff. An adjacent storage building also caught fire.

All residents within a 1-mile radius of the plant have been ordered to shelter in place, the Harris County Sheriff's Office said. But there does not appear to be hazardous chemicals in the air.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/02/us/texas-harris-county-chemical-plant-fire/index.html

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I try to link to the local source when I can, but the local headline didn't provide much info that made sense to anyone who was not a local.

One dead in fire at KMCO chemical plant in Crosby
By Jasper Scherer, Shelby Webb, Nguyen Lee, and Dug Begley Updated 3:25 pm CDT, Tuesday, April 2, 2019

https://www.chron.com/neighborhood/lakehouston/article/Fire-reported-at-KMCO-chemical-plant-in-Crosby-13735191.php

Updated at 3:20 p.m.

One person has died and two people were critically injured in a fire Tuesday morning at KMCO chemical plant in Crosby, authorities said.

The fire at the plant at 16503 Ramsey Road has been contained and responders are working to prevent it from spreading to nearby tanks, Rachel Moreno, a spokesperson for the Harris County Fire Marshal's Office, said at a news conference Tuesday afternoon.

The two people who were injured have been taken by helicopter ambulance to the hospital in critical condition, Moreno said.

A shelter in place for residents within a 1-mile radius of the plant, where isobutylene apparently ignited, has been lifted.