An explosion caused a fire Sunday night in the residential area of 9000 block of West 26th Street.
Fortunately, there were no injuries involved.
Odessa Fire Battalion Chief Bradley Reese spoke at a press conference Monday at Central Fire Station detailing more of the situation that happened Sunday.
A truck carrying chemicals used in fracking were stored is believed to have caused the fire but the cause is still being investigated.
The explosion happened at around 9:45 p.m. Sunday.
“Odessa Fire Rescue and West Odessa Volunteer Fire Department were called out for a report of a vehicle fire,” Reese said. “Enroute, the information that we were given was that it was actually a chemical truck and there had been an explosion. When units arrived on scene, they found a flat bed trailer fully engulfed then later figured out that it was carrying various chemicals in some large totes.”
However, no one was hurt and there’s no longer a risk of danger in the area.
“There was some damage to the trailer, obviously,” Reese said. “We found out that these were various chemicals used in fracking that they were storing for disposal. Possibly, things got mixed around and created the combustion.”
Reese said the explosion occurred in the middle of the neighborhood.
“There was a little bit of concern of what the chemicals were in the smoke in the area,” Reese said. “But the crews got out on the scene and cleared out the area and within two hours, the whole area was cleared out.”
Reese continued that “the explosion happened in a yard that was large enough to where the explosion was confined to that area and the damage was very minimal.”
He said it took about 30 minutes to get the fire under control with the investigation still ongoing.
“The rest of the time on the scene was just containing the spill in the area,” Reese said. “TCEQ was notified and responded and they’re taking the investigation from there.”
Reese said that residents in the area were alarmed by the event.
“There were a lot of bystanders,” Reese said. “It was in a residential area so it was a little bit scary for those neighbors. They obviously felt that explosion so we got a lot of calls on it. Luckily, nobody was injured.”
