{"id":13523,"date":"2019-03-21T22:34:35","date_gmt":"2019-03-21T22:34:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tmc.edu\/news\/the-deer-park-fire-is-out-but-whats-the-health-impact-on-houstonians\/"},"modified":"2019-08-16T15:04:56","modified_gmt":"2019-08-16T15:04:56","slug":"the-deer-park-fire-is-out-but-whats-the-health-impact-on-houstonians","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tmc.edu\/news\/2019\/03\/the-deer-park-fire-is-out-but-whats-the-health-impact-on-houstonians\/","title":{"rendered":"The Deer Park fire is out, but what’s the health impact on Houstonians?"},"content":{"rendered":"
The flames of the Deer Park chemical fire<\/a> were extinguished, finally, on Wednesday after a brief flare-up, but the lingering health impacts of the blaze and the toxins released remain concerning unknowns.<\/p>\n According to Deer Park Emergency Services, a storage tank caught fire on Sunday, March 17 at the Intercontinental Terminals Company facility in Deer Park and eventually spread to as many as 11 tanks. The ignition of petrochemical liquids and gases in storage sent a huge plume of black smoke into the air that settled into a dark cloud over the Houston area.<\/p>\n By early Wednesday morning, officials released a statement alerting the public that the air contained elevated levels of benzene\u2014a colorless, sweet-smelling chemical that can be derived from natural gas, crude oil or coal, can cause cancer, infertility and birth defects in the developing fetus of pregnant women among other things according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.<\/a><\/p>\n The revelation about benzene-contaminated air \u201cverifies our suspicions that hydrocarbons have been released,\u201d said Kamran Boka, M.D., a pulmonologist and critical care physician at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth<\/a>) and Memorial Hermann Hospital<\/a>-Texas Medical Center. \u201cIf you have to stay in the area and cannot evacuate, the best thing to do is get a chemical filter<\/a> for a respirator that is approved for benzene and hydrocarbons and that can be picked up at a hardware store.\u201d<\/p>\n After the announcement, a shelter-in-place order was issued for Deer Park and Galena Park residents due to elevated benzene levels. As a result, schools have been canceled. Residents have been advised to turn off air conditioners and heaters to keep outside air from coming in and to stay indoors as much as possible.<\/p>\n