Published: March 25, 2008 10:30 am         

Officials sift through ashes of industrial plant blaze

Nighttime fire heavily damages airport-area business

By Lacie Morrison
lmorrison@mineralwellsindex.com

An official with the Environmental Protection Agency reported that the air quality is clear following the Monday night fire at an industrial building near the Mineral Wells Municipal Airport.

Firefighters from five local departments – Mineral Wells, Millsap, Cool-Garner, Santo and Weatherford – responded to the fire that emanated from a manufacturing company. Located at 5101 Airport Road, the northeast portion of Hydroscience Technologies, Inc. caught fire shortly before 10:30 p.m.

Mineral Wells Volunteer Fire Department Chief Steve Perdue reported a company employee who “heard an explosion” called in the fire. The employee was staying at the business’ club house located across the street.

Firefighters were able to clear the scene between 2:30 a.m. and 4:30 a.m. Tuesday morning though a brief flare up had Mineral Wells firefighters returning to the scene again six hours later. Perdue explained that an ember appeared to have burned through a cable that contained what was described like a high-grade kerosene and ignited the fuel.

“It didn’t take long to put out,” he added.

Officials estimated that approximately 6,000 square feet of the northeast part of the building was damaged.

“We’re not finding anything. We’re not picking up anything chemical,” reported Greg Fife, the EPA on-scene coordinator from Dallas. He added that though there was an odor in the air, “Any chemical concern is not being detected on the meters.”

He added that they will be taking several water samples from the scene, from runoff water and from a nearby tank to test for pollutants.

In addition to representatives from the EPA, officials from Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms were also present on scene Tuesday.

The cause of the fire remained under investigation as of Tuesday afternoon, and officials said it was too early to assess a monetary loss.

According to the company’s vice president of marketing and sales, Andy Montes, the facility is a 77,000-square-foot building they’ve occupied since relocating to Mineral Wells from Dallas nine years ago.

“We’ll just have to relocate [in Mineral Wells] and try to find a place where we can continue to operate,” Montes remarked.

The company manufactures equipment used in oil and gas marine seismic exploration.

Perdue praised the response of Hydroscience Technologies, Inc., which hired Eagle Construction and Environmental Services to clean up.

“They’re doing this right. They’ve been very co-operative,” he remarked.