Thursday afternoon, Harris County officials provided an update on the county’s environmental monitoring and protection efforts since the 2019 ITC Deer Park fire. Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo, Precinct 2 Commissioner Adrian Garcia, as well as other county officials and representatives from a research nonprofit and private industry spoke at the briefing. AdIn the wake of the fire, Harris County officials undertook several steps to improve the county’s environmental monitoring and enforcement efforts. $11 million was allocated towards improving the county’s preparedness and response to chemical incidents, county officials stated in a release. AdAltogether, these steps represent the county’s biggest investments in environmental protection in more than 30 years, officials stated in the release.

“The failure within the power frame resulted in an uncontained release of Naphtha enriched with Butane. Foul play and malicious intent along with other unintentional causes were ruled out by investigators,” officials wrote in the report. The Harris County Fire Marshal’s Office told KPRC 2 that the ITC facility was built before Harris County adopted a fire code and the HCFMO did not have the authority to inspect the facility before the fire. See a timeline of how the ITC Deer Park fire played out here. You can read the full final report into the ITC Deer Park investigation below: