U.S. Chemical Safety Board releases report on ITC fire

New report on ITC Deer Park fire

A new report on a chemical storage facility fire that burned for days in Deer Park sheds light on what may have contributed to the disaster.

DEER PARK, Texas - The federal agency charged with looking into the massive ITC fire released their report on Wednesday on the fire at the storage facility.

The U.S. Chemical Safety Board saying the facility did not have many of the necessary safeguards in place that would have helped prevent the fire.

The report states the petrochemical facility did not have an alert system in place to warn of releases from its tanks, causing the leak to go undetected.

Investigators believe the leak originated from a pipe or valve leading up one of the 80,000 barrel tanks.

In total, the fire spread and burned 10 tanks filled with gases like Naphtha used to make Petro.

The report shows the situation was exacerbated due to the facility not having emergency shut off valves.

The fire was left to burn out, which took three days. The storage facility caught on fire on March 17, and the large fire eventually died out on March 20.

The safety board says it's still conducting its investigation, including determining exactly what ignited the fire.