Texas prohibits nearly 70 percent of its counties from having a fire code [View all]

[LeftInTX]

By RANDY LEE LOFTIS
Environmental Writer
[e-mail]
Published: 25 May 2013 11:17 PM
Updated: 26 May 2013 12:48 PM

Victoria County, a little slice of the Texas chemical coast, has nearly 39 million pounds of concoctions that can poison and nearly 11 million pounds that can catch fire.

“A potential for a catastrophic event” is how one federal agency described the risk if they leak. A temptation for terrorists, added another.

But Victoria County cannot use a firefighter’s basic tool for preventing industrial disaster: a fire code.

Texas won’t let the county adopt one.

In piney-woods southeast Texas, nearly 250,000 people within 25 miles of a paper mill could breathe chlorine or chlorine-dioxide gas after a worst-case fire or accident. Some could die.

Much more at link: http://www.dallasnews.com/news/west-explosion/investigation/20130525-texas-prohibits-nearly-70-percent-of-its-counties-from-having-a-fire-code.ece

*****************************************
Dallas Morning News coverage of the West Fertilizer explosion has been excellent.