“I mean, this is getting ridiculous at this point,” Port Neches-Groves ISD Superintendent Mike Gonzales said after his district canceled classes for the rest of the week.

The district, which had resumed classes Tuesday after the Nov. 27 TPC Group explosions rocked Port Neches, was notified Wednesday night along with town residents that another shelter-in-place order had been called for the city.

The unified command responding to the incident made the call shortly after 6 p.m. after a monitor near the site detected a large concentration of 1,3-butadiene. Lower temperatures and south winds predicted through the night pushed officials to take precautions.

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Gonzales said the district knew only as much as residents were being told at the moment of the order, but he made the call to cancel for the next several days so all precautions could be made before students again return to class.

“What I will say is that if they are having this shelter-in-place, we are going to need at least a few more days to get back in there and retest … and make sure that everything is good inside the schools before I can send the kids back,” he said.

1,3-butadiene has been recognized for several decades as a known carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, an agency formed under the World Health Organization of the United Nations and considered one of the premier authorities on cancer.

Tommy John Kherkher, managing partner for The Kherkher Law Firm, who has handled cases with similar known carcinogens, said a shelter-in-place would be appropriate given the nature of even limited exposure to chemicals like 1,3-butadiene, but only if people’s homes haven’t been damaged.

“It’s a gas, it seeps into wherever it’s exposed to,” he said. “It doesn’t give full protection to just stay inside if your home isn’t airtight or your ventilation hasn’t been inspected.”

Kherker said he suggests people leave the area if they are unsure of their protection from the outside and to have their homes, outside fixtures and even their car thoroughly cleaned to reduce exposure.

Issues with butadiene levels had been reported as early as Monday and elected officials were briefed on a possible leak at the plant before the shelter-in-place order.

After testing 146 locations around Port Neches and Groves from Sunday night to Monday night, the agency reported one location just outside the plant that tested for double the actionable level of VOCs and an extremely high level of 1,3-butadiene.

Jefferson County Judge Jeff Branick said Wednesday morning that officials were told about a detected butadiene release that could have come from a pressure valve on one of the company’s pipelines that had malfunctioned but was being fixed.

Monitors recorded a similar sample to Monday night’s findings of VOCs and butadiene at about 11 p.m. Tuesday.

Three samples early Wednesday showed elevated levels of VOCs considered in the moderate health risk category for prolonged exposure at locations all within a quarter mile of the plant. None was as high as the sample at the fence line.

The suspected center of the fire was a butadiene processing unit in the plant, but no official causes have been determined.

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On Wednesday morning, Branick said representatives from the Chemical Safety Board had joined the unified command for regular briefings, but he had already been told their investigation wouldn’t wrap for likely a year or more.

Despite frustrations or apprehension some Jefferson County residents might have about the lack of information, he said a lengthy investigation was the best thing for the area’s future.

“They want to look at all the evidence, be thorough and be correct, which is what we all want to ensure something like this doesn’t happen again,” Branick said.

Kendrick Meets was preparing to board up the windows at his house on Holland Avenue on Wednesday to cover the vacant spaces left by the explosion. One week after the incident, Meets said he would like to know what chemicals were in the tanks at the plant.

“I’ve been sneezing like crazy,” he said. “I don’t have (any) allergies. It’s got something to do with (the explosion), because we were close to it.”

Meets moved in with a friend two months ago after moving back to Southeast Texas from Maryland more than a year ago.

Now, he’s wondering what will happen to his new home.

He said he’s heard rumors the TPC Group plant will start production again soon, and wonders how that could be possible when residents don’t have an answer about the explosion.

“What’s going on here?” Meets asked. “They need to let us know. Especially the ones who live right up on it.”

More than 32,000 samples have been taken by handheld monitors from crews on the ground since Nov. 27, and environmental contractors with the company have established at least 30 stationary air monitors across the region.

CTEH, an Arkansas based toxicology contractor with three branches in Texas, has sent about 120 environmental specialists to the area with 95 expected to conduct monitoring in the community, according to the unified command.

Environmentalists and air quality monitors weren’t the only crews on the ground in Port Neches on Wednesday.

TPC Group reported 220 claims assessors had been deployed, 100 of whom would be making inspection appointments to homes. It was the largest number of claims personnel on hand since the incident began and came after the company increased its capacity for claims calls at its helpline center.

At least 5,000 calls had been logged by Tuesday night and 270 claims were already paid. No data was available on whether those were damage claims or evacuation claims or how much had been paid.

Matt Vincent, a Port Neches resident waiting for inspectors to visit his home next Tuesday, said he was staying positive about TPC’s response but also felt it was a good idea to file a claim with his home insurance, along with getting an independent structural engineer.

Vincent said he had 20 years’ experience in the insurance industry, and even had to work the surrounding scene of plant explosions in the past, so he can understand both sides of the incident.

“With homeowners that settle with TPC’s insurance, if something happens later, then that is it,” Vincent said. “If you have a claim with your insurer, then that can save you in the event that the damage turns into something else.”

He compared the strategy for claims and recovery to that of hurricanes, except homeowners actually have someone to make a claim against in this case.

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Other Port Neches residents were preoccupied with questions about what would happen long after damage assessors left their neighborhoods.

Sierra Garcia was at Riverfront Park in Port Neches, blocks away from the TPC Group plant.

She moved to Port Arthur from New Orleans three months ago along with her husband and 1-year-old daughter, Isabella.

She and her husband graduated from McNeese State and he began working at Motiva. The two were looking to move to Port Neches but are now reconsidering because of the blast.

“We were looking at homes in Port Neches and Lumberton,” she said. “Now, we are leaning more toward Lumberton.”

Garcia said her family has been relatively healthy aside from her and her husband having headaches the day after the explosion.

Garcia said the park normally has approximately 15 people, but her daughter played alone Wednesday.

“She usually has little friends that she tries to play with,” Garcia said as Isabella swung by herself. “I hope the air is safe. I know they have said it is safe, but I hope they are telling the truth.”