Dozens of people were injured Wednesday after an ExxonMobil oil refinery complex in Texas caught fire following a petrochemical unit explosion. People in neighboring suburbs said they felt explosions loud enough to “shake windows,” according to The Houston Chronicle. Plumes of smoke could be seen rising from the facility in Baytown by 11 a.m. and a half hour later, city officials were warning residents to take shelter. The advisory was lifted by around 3 p.m. local time, with authorities saying they had found nothing concerning in the city’s air quality. The 37 people injured by the fire were taken to an off-site clinic, Jason Duncan, ExxonMobil Baytown Olefins Plant Manager, was quoted as saying by The Chronicle. Duncan said all the injuries sustained were non-life threatening first-degree burns. The company is said to still be working to determine what caused the explosion and subsequent fire. “It’s not right for us to live next to a petrochemical plant and live in fear sometimes,” said Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo, adding that this was Baytown’s “fourth major fire since January.”
