Waller County, Texas fire at Flowchem extinguished, but questions remain about its cause

Twelve different fire departments battled the fire at Flowchem along FM 529 near FM 2855 Saturday night into Sunday morning

 

Sunday, July 05, 2015 05:55PM

 

WALLER, TX (KTRK) -- 

 

Multiple fire departments and a HazMat crew responded to a fire at a chemical plant fire in Waller County Saturday night. That fire is now extinguished, but questions remain about its cause.

Officials say flames broke out at Flowchem along FM 529 west of FM 2855 at around 9:30pm. Though a test of the air quality showed only a low risk, residents near the facility were advised to shelter-in-place. That order was lifted at around 2:20am.

At this point, it's not clear how the fire started. Plant managers say there haven't been employees there since Thursday.

Waller County Judge Trey Duhon said, "There's definitely some alcohol and some other materials on site that were flammable, and we know that there was one tank that had liquid nitrogen in it that we were real careful of, but it doesn't appear the fire came anywhere near close to those tanks."

Air tests of the area did not show any danger from the fire.

According to the Waller County Sheriff's Office, Flowchem makes a pipeline additive that uses ground up synthetic rubber and soybeans.