HOUSTON: A petrochemical factory in the Houston area caught fire on Friday, sending up a massive plume of smoke that could be seen for miles and hospitalising five workers.

Around 3 p.m., emergency personnel were called to the Shell facility in Deer Park, an east Houston neighbourhood. The city of Deer Park issued an alert stating that there were no instructions for citizens to take shelter in place.

Sheriff of Harris County Ed Gonzalez stated that five contracted workers were taken to the hospital for observational purposes but were not burned. He claimed that because of heat exhaustion and their proximity to the fire, they were rushed to a hospital.

Gonzalez claimed that despite the sheriff's office originally responding to emergency calls claiming an explosion had occurred, nothing really exploded. According to Gonzalez, the fire was still raging as of Friday night but had subsided and was under control. Investigations into the fire's starting point were ongoing. The air was being monitored by officials for potential effects from the fire, but nothing alarming had been seen thus far, they claimed.

According to Shell, the incident at the Deer Park Chemicals factory erupted in the Olefins unit at around 2:56 p.m. According to Shell Deer Park, the merchandise that caught fire included cracked heavy petrol oil, cracked light petrol oil and petrol. Immediate concerns are the safety of people and the environment, and the cause of the incident will be the focus of a future investigation, according to Shell Deer Park.

Kaitlyn Bluejacket reported that although Shell was monitoring the air quality, the city had not yet received an update. According to Shell, there is now no need for them to shelter in place, but she added that the city would inform them if this changed.

Firefighters from the factory and neighbouring plants reacted. Although temperatures in the Houston area reached close to 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32.2 degrees Celsius), heavy humidity made it feel hotter than 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37.8 degrees Celsius). Wind conditions were good for putting out the fire.

Captain James Singleton of the Harris County Fire Marshal's office said his staff will remain in Deer Park through the weekend and that investigators were trying to determine what had transpired.

Everyone who was in the building when the fire broke out, including the controllers, management, and everyone. The smoke plumes, according to Houston meteorologists, were visible from orbit through satellite.

Due to the substantial presence of petrochemical industries, facility fires are a usual occurrence in the region. One person was hurt when an explosion and fire broke out at an INEOS Phenol factory in nearby Pasadena, Texas, in March.

Although there were no injuries because of a fire that raged for days in 2019 at a facility owned by Intercontinental Terminals Company, it led to air quality warnings.