Kansas City chemical plant fire forces evacuation
A fire destroys a chemical plant located in a Kansas City residential neighborhood; newspaper reports that the fire “draped the city in mushroom-shaped plume of black smoke”
As if to underscore the importance of the chemical plant safety legislation pased by Congress, a fire Wednesday destroyed a Kansas City chemical plant forced the evacuation of hundreds of nearby residents. The 2:15pm blast at the Chemcentral plant draped the city in mushroom-shaped plume of black smoke and raised concerns about air quality. Preliminary air quality tests late Wednesday showed no toxic chemicals from the plume.
The company distributes dozens of products, including waxes, resins, solvents, pigments, and silicones. The company would not say what chemicals were at the building, but it recently filed a report with the Missouri Emergency Response Commission which listed acetone, alcohol, diesel fuel, ethyl acetate, heptane, isobutyl acetate, rubbing alcohol, methyl ethyl ketone, mineral spirits, and ketone. The plant stores chemicals in huge tanks which contain 2,000 to 35,000 gallons. In addition, chemicals are packaged in 55-gallon drums for customers. Three rails cars holding 30,000 gallons of flammable liquid each were positioned on tracks next to the burning building.
The company has thirty-six facilities nationwide.
-read more in Kevin Murphy’s and Karen Dillon’s Kansas City.com report
