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Residents near TPC plant return home after evacuation order lifted
Thousands were able to return home on Friday after evacuating the area surrounding the TPC plant in Port Neches.
PORT NECHES, Texas - Thousands of people were able to return home Friday after evacuating the area surrounding the TPC plant fire in Port Neches.
Drones flew over the fire scene Friday morning, allowing emergency responders to get the latest assessment of danger to the public.
“The fire chief determined that the fire was contained,” said Jefferson County Judge Jeff Branick. “I agreed.”
The judge’s mandatory evacuation order was lifted Friday morning, allowing tens of thousands in Port Neches and surrounding areas to return home.
“As soon as they lifted it, there was a lot of traffic,” said Clay Hartsfield, an evacuee who lives on Texas Avenue about a quarter-mile from the fire. “Everybody was getting back home.”
Hartsfield returned home Friday morning and got right to work repairing the damage left by Wednesday’s explosions at the TPC plant.
“Blew my bedroom windows out, my patio doors, my patio door to my bedroom, front door, laundry room, and my garage door,” said Hartsfield.
Across the street, Charlotte Lange’s deadbolt was ripped through the door frame by the force of the explosions.
“I opened the blind, and I could see the flames just really high,” said Lange.
With the fire still burning in containment just a quarter-mile from her home, she says she won’t be returning home just yet.
“We’re too close to drag my mother-in-law back into that,” said Lange. “With smoke still in the air and stuff, we’ll return tomorrow, maybe.”
She said she’s especially leery about returning after the symptoms she had Wednesday morning.
“I told my husband—I said, my nose is burning, my eyes are burning, and I taste it in my mouth,” said Lange.
Lange is one of several neighbors of the chemical plant filing a class-action lawsuit against TPC.
“Calls that I’ve gotten so far are: burning eyes, burning throats, respiratory issues,” said Bill Ogden, an attorney with Farrar & Ball, LLP. “A lot of people are just angry that they were displaced for so long. They were evacuated 12 hours before Thanksgiving Day started.”
TPC Group is inviting all residents and businesses impacted by the explosion and fire to file a claim with its insurance provider by calling the TPC Community Assistance Helpline at 866-601-5880.