A fire broke out today in a large chemical plant called Magnablend Inc located in Waxahachie, Texas. Residents that lived around the plant were ordered to evacuate due to the toxic compounds that may be in the air. On top of residents the local college and elementary schools were also evacuated. Although they don't currently know what caused the fire to break out, all the employee's had a chance to get out before the fire started to consume the entire building. Due to the chemical nature of the fire the ground crews were trying to contain it with little success. It quickly spread to the parking lot and lit a firetruck on fire as well. The gases in this blaze are what to worry about not only will the fumes become mixed with the air but the explosions and fire will launch volatiles into the air leaving citizens susceptible to skin exposure. The state of Texas is expected to bring in an air-monitoring system to gauge how bad the air quality is, in case further evacuations have to occur. An event like this is out of the norm of environmental hazards but the consequences can often be catastrophic. It would be interesting to see how not only the air quality but water quality will be affected by an incident like this. See the following link for a live video account of the situation.
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