Fire at LyondellBasell chemical plant in Pasadena extinguished; air monitoring shows no danger to public

PASADENA, Texas – Authorities in Pasadena are continuing to monitor the scene after a fire broke out overnight at the LyondellBasell chemical facility on Choate Road.

Officials say the fire is now out, but crews remain at the Bayport Choate site as a precaution.

Smoke and flames were visible from the plant overnight, prompting concern from people who live nearby.

According to the company, the fire started during what was described as an operational upset at the facility on Thursday night.

LyondellBasell issued multiple community alerts warning residents they might see bright flames, smoke, and hear rumbling noises due to significant flaring at the plant.

The Harris County Fire Marshal’s Office responded to the scene along with hazmat and air monitoring teams to check conditions around the facility. Authorities say air quality readings in the area have not shown any danger to the public.

Confusion On Flare vs. Fire

Video from Houston TranStar showed flames visible from a distance, highlighting how large the flare appeared overnight.

While the plant shared a self-reported community message initially calling this incident a “flaring,” people who lived nearby quickly realized this wasn’t the case.

• 9:13 p.m. - The plant sent a CAER (Community Awareness Emergency Response) message self-reporting a “flaring” incident.
• 9:42 p.m. - La Porte Office of Emergency Management posted on social media that there was a smoke column and a fire
• 12:29 a.m. - The plant shared another CAER message calling the incident a “fire”

The confusion is cause for concern not only for those who live nearby, but for lawmakers, too.

Gage Goulding: “How do you expect people to continue to trust that self-reported information?”

Sen. Carol Alvarado: “That’s why I want to get to the bottom of it and find out where that gap was. I mean, they could have easily seen it wasn’t a flare.”

Gage Goulding: “Do you think that there could be legislation or some way to ensure that what’s being put out there is, in fact, the truth?”

Sen. Carol Alvarado: “We’re certainly going to take a shot at it after we’ve had a chance to talk with them because I want to understand.”

How Is There No Toxic Emissions?

The chemical plant’s flare is designed to burn off the toxic chemicals before they are released into the atmosphere.

Daniel Cohan is a professor of environmental engineering at Rice University and explains how this system is supposed to work.

“A continuous flare is operating so that any hydrocarbons that are being released from the facility — that could be methane, like the main ingredient in natural gas — or other hydrocarbons produced as part of their chemical manufacturing or refining,” he said. “The flare gives those gases an opportunity to be burned off before they vent into the air, turning them mainly into carbon dioxide rather than more harmful toxic air pollutants.”

Harris County Pollution Control Services deployed mobile monitoring stations but says they didn’t measure dangerous levels.

“PCS responded to a fire at the Lyondell Bayport facility on March 12 to conduct air monitoring in nearby areas,” a Harris County Pollution Control spokesperson wrote. “Our monitoring data has shown no actionable readings, and no protective actions are needed for the community. The public can view near real-time air data on our website.”

How does that happen? Cohan says the flare could have boosted those emissions high into the air, far out of reach of ground monitoring stations.

“Two things can be true at once: there can be some really harmful releases going up into the air, and yet it may not be as dangerous of a situation at ground level, depending on what those monitors are telling us,” Cohan said.

Even though the fire has been extinguished, emergency crews and industrial response teams are expected to remain at the plant for the time being to monitor the situation.

Officials say no shelter-in-place orders or protective actions have been issued for nearby neighborhoods, and conditions around the facility are considered safe at this time.