A fire visible from two miles away raged early today in a plastics plant outside Dallas, but authorities said it posed no danger to residents and hadn't caused any injuries.
Meanwhile, the search for victims of a huge explosion at a plastics plant in Pasadena continued today. Seven are confirmed dead and 15 missing from the series of blasts that destroyed the Phillips Petroleum Co. plant near Houston on Monday.The blaze today at the Poly-America Corp. factory, which makes plastic bags and other plastic items, broke out at 11 p.m. Thursday, said James Smith, assistant fire chief in this Dallas suburb.
The plant was closed for the night, and no one was believed inside, Smith said.
The fire was burning out of control early today but didn't threaten to spread beyond the plant, Smith said, adding that firefighters expected it to burn through the night though they were pouring water on the flames.
"There wasn't much we could do on this one," Smith said.
The cause had yet to be determined, Smith said.
Flames were seen from two miles away, and thick smoke from burning plastic billowed, but Smith said evacuations were unnecessary in the largely industrial area because the smoke wasn't highly toxic, the nearest homes were a mile away, and the smoke was blowing toward a 700-acre vacant field.
At the Phillips plant, the search for victims and for clues to the cause of the blast was halted for about five hours Thursday because of a hydrocarbon leak, but sampling showed the leak didn't pose a danger, said Phillips spokesman George Minter.
"We're taking an extremely conservative safety measure," he said as activity was suspended.
The investigation and clean-up work are being conducted around the clock at the ruined plant, which produced plastic pellets used to make milk jugs and grocery bags.
Two victims' bodies were found Thursday outside a reactor control room, said Phillips spokesman Scott Carlberg.
Company experts have said the explosions began in ethylene and isobutane gases leaking from a chemical reactor, but they have yet to determine what ignited the gas.
Phillips has yet to decide on the plant's future, said Lavele Franz, vice president of human resources and services.