What happened

A four-alarm fire consumed A-1 Custom Packaging, a Houston warehouse that mixed and packaged several products for customers, including petroleum-based fuel additives as well as pesticides and herbicides. Authorities imposed a precautionary 0.75-mile shelter-in-place while the contents were initially uncertain. Firefighting runoff carried oily material, red-dyed diesel and visible petroleum-based fuel additive through storm drainage into a tributary and Spring Branch Creek. EPA reported effects on approximately three miles of creek and impacts to soil, vegetation, water and wildlife. Later city testing found no indication of long-term health effects for people who were not at the fire site. The initiating fire was reported to have spread from behind the warehouse, but the reviewed sources did not establish a final cause.

When cited sources give different casualty, damage or spill figures for this event, they’re reported side by side above rather than merged into one number. See how confidence levels work.