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MANSFIELD, Texas - A large fire and a series of explosions rocked a chemical recycling facility near Mansfield in southeast Tarrant County Friday morning.
The Tarrant County Fire Marshal said the fire started around 1 a.m. at Clean Solvent Recycling on Newt Patterson Road.
Neighbors said they heard a series of explosions. Those were likely from the large number of paint barrels, paint thinners and other substances in the building.
The fire marshal said the fire is not believed to be an environmental concern so at this point the plan is to let it burn itself out. It’s also in a rural area and not threatening any homes.
“The hazards are not anything that’s serious or to be worried about in the neighborhood around here. We are monitoring that situation. We have the National Weather Service on hand. They’re not here but we have them available just in case we have to do some plume modeling for smoke. Right now, the wind is controlling that and keeping it out of the way. Every once and a while, it settles a little bit but then the wind picks up,” Fire Marshal Randy Renois said.
Everyone is being kept about a quarter of a mile away from the facility as a precaution. Neighbors were told to stay indoors and keep their windows closed.
One neighbor said the loud explosions actually woke her and her children up.
“Fireballs. Felt the heat. Then black smoke coming at us,” Ann Heuero said.
No one was believed to be inside the building when the fire started and no one was hurt.
“As of now, we know there wasn’t anybody inside. The gentleman who was on property sleeping at the time in a trailer there was woken up and he got out. But he wasn’t close to the fire. So there’s no danger of that,” Renois said.
The cause of the fire is still unknown.