In what ways do toxic chemical fires affect local communities?

 Was the chemicals from a fire or just a by-product of a plant or storage facility. In Houston, there is a petrochemical terminal which affects people around a 2 mile radius from the area. Noxious gases, and heavy metals are released into the air. It was said that there is a higher chance of having leukemia being in the radius. They call this zone of unsafety the sacrifice zone. In 1992, a circuit board manufacturing facility burned and released a thick black smoke into the air for about 8 hours. If you think about it, everything that burns/combusts must follow the law of conservation of mass. Meaning that there are thousand little particles that could be flying around that in reality is the same mass as a couch. Most particles are carcinogenic. Effects of breathing these substances included asthma, blurred vision, hearing loss, hair loss, rashes and numbness in the body. In 2014, an LA port burned down causing treated wood of various sizes were scattered across the waters. Toxic gases were released into the air from the combustion of the treated wood; releasing benzene, naphthalene, which did not read on a monitoring device, and was more then 100 parts per billion. The average in this area of typical naphthalene levels is o.o5 ppb. The effect made many evacuate from dozens of LA cities and Orange counties. One main relationship between many of these situations is the rebuild. Think of any recent disaster. The worst part for most is the destruction of their living space. Most people do not think about the health concerns linked to toxic chemical fires where dioxins can be released and could potentially affect any part of your body. Dioxins are essentially catalysts for carcinogens. Plus, there is no such thing as a safe level of dioxins. Once they are released into the environment, it must be monitored frequently. There are many consequences to chemical fire, such as health concerns, air pollution, water pollution, environmental defects and destruction. 

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Barboza, T. (2014, September 26). Port of L.A. fire cleanup: Effects of toxic chemical releases studied. Retrieved December 01, 2020, from https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-port-la-fire-air-quality-20140926-story.html

Toney, H., Moms Clean Air Force, & Ziff, A. (2019, April 18). Fires and Chemicals: A Toxic and Deadly Mix. Retrieved December 01, 2020, from https://www.momscleanairforce.org/fires-chemicals-toxic-pollution/