Massive fire continues burning at Grand Prairie plastics factory Poly-America
A massive fire at a Grand Prairie plastics manufacturing plant that began Wednesday morning is expected to keep burning for at least another day.
No injuries have been reported in the fire, from which smoke could be seen for miles in North Texas.
“It’s going to be burning for hours,” said Grand Prairie Assistant Fire Chief Bill Murphy in a telephone interview with the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
A power line that collapsed into a storage area full of plastic sheeting is believed to have started the blaze at the Poly-America factory, at 2000 W. Marshall Drive in Grand Prairie. Officials with Poly-America could not immediately be reached for comment.
Murphy said there were giant rolls of plastic stacked as high as 8 feet in the warehouse that caught fire.
“Plastic is hard to put out and it’s just gonna burn,” he said during a Wednesday morning press conference.
The Grand Prairie Fire Department received reports of the fire at the manufacturing facility about midnight, and firefighters continued to battle the blaze throughout the day Wednesday.
There have been no official evacuations, but people with underlying health conditions should avoid the area and stay indoors, the Grand Prairie Fire Department said.
Passing drivers and nearby residents stopped at Mary’s Outpost Bar on Great Southwest Parkway in Grand Prairie to watch the flames and smoke Wednesday morning.
“It just looked like a big, dark cloud,” said Tina Clark, of Burleson, who had come to nearby Arlington to visit her mother in south Arlington. “You could see it for miles.”
Grand Prairie resident Patsy Ray told the Star-Telegram she was concerned with the air quality due to the burning plastic, and hoped the city would conduct air quality testing.
“We fight cancer anyway, but we don’t need a brush of it along with COVID,” said the 74-year-old resident who has lived in Grand Prairie since 1956. “If we get the air tested, that would be good.”
Gov. Greg Abbott said in a statement Wednesday that the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and Grand Prairie officials are continually checking air quality conditions.
“The State of Texas is monitoring the industrial fire in Grand Prairie and working closely with local officials and first responders to address safety concerns in the community,” Abbott said. “The state will provide any necessary resources to the area. I ask Texans in the Grand Prairie community to heed the guidance of local officials and pray for the safety of the first responders combating the fire.”
Poly-America was founded in 1976, and it produces products like kitchen trash bags, yard trash bags, plastic sheeting and plastic drop cloths, including Husky brand trash bags, according to the company’s website. Many of the company’s products are made from polyethylene, which is highly flammable. Poly-America employs about 1,750 people and has 10 buildings at its 37-acre Grand Prairie headquarters.
“I have (seen fires) whenever they had them in West Texas, but nothing this close to home like this,” said Joshua Hooten, whose grandmother lives in Grand Prairie. “This is pretty bad.”
A railroad car loaded with paint and near the warehouse burned, fire officials. Firefighters were attempting to prevent other railroad cars in the area from burning.
Firefighters also were trying to prevent the massive fire from burning a lumberyard which is to the west of the warehouse.
The fire was expected to cause power line towers to topple, causing more towers to be pulled down, fire officials said.
“More power lines will go down, but we are working with Oncor,” Murphy said.
Oncor engineers and construction crews have been at the site since early Wednesday.
“The safety of our crews, the first responders and the public remains our highest priority and we ask all local residents to please stay away from the immediate area,” said Oncor spokeswoman Connie Piloto in a Wednesday news release.
As of 11 a.m. Wednesday, fewer than 30 residents were without power in the area, Piloto said.
“We have de-energized and electrically isolated the location and the surrounding transmission towers from the rest of the grid to prevent any further outages,” Piloto said. “As part of this effort, power has also been rerouted for the immediate surrounding communities.”
Grand Prairie and Dallas-Fort Worth Airport firefighters were on the scene while fire crews from Cedar Hill, Irving and Dallas were handling calls in Grand Prairie, fire officials said.
The President George Bush Turnpike and other roads in the area were shut down Wednesday morning, but Grand Prairie officials said the turnpike later reopened.
Grand Prairie police warned motorists of heavy traffic delays in west Grand Prairie in the area of W. Marshall Drive, Great Southwest Parkway and Texas 161 (President George Bush Turnpike). Streets near W. Marshall Drive were closed, according to news reports.
This story was originally published August 19, 2020 at 5:44 AM.
