Houston Personal Injury Attorneys – Smith & Hassler

Local media outlets are reporting a fire at the ExxonMobil refinery in Beaumont, Texas has injured twelve workers. At around 10:30 a.m. today, Wednesday April 17^th, a fire broke out in a process unit that was down for maintenance at the time.  ExxonMobil states the fire was quickly controlled and is no longer burning. Injuries to twelve contract workers have been reported, six of those workers were transported to area hospital for medical attention. Three of the injured victims are reported as having suffered severe burns.  An investigation into the cause of the fire is underway.  The contract workers are employed by Signature Industrial Services.

Local media coverage of the ExxonMobil refinery fire in Beaumont: ABC Channel 13 News, KHOU Houston, Channel 2 News Houston, FOX News Houston, Houston Chronicle.

Two workers installing a flagpole yesterday at the Riata West subdivision off Barker Cypress Road in Cypress were rushed to hospital when the pole made contact with an overhead electrical wire. The men, who were contract workers installing the flagpole for developer CastleRock Communities, suffered burns to their hands and feet. Investigators say that as the men were installing the flagpole it began to lean, so the men grabbed the pole to prevent it from falling and that’s when the power line was contacted. CastleRock Communities say the two men work installing signs an flagpoles for them. Channel 2’s article on the incident did not include information on the men’s conditions. If you have been injured at work and aren’t sure of your rights, call the experienced personal injury attorneys at Smith & Hassler and request a no-cost evaluation of your work injury case.

Workers at the Riata West subdivision in Cypress were electrocuted when a flagpole touched an overhead power line

Five workers have been burned in an accident at the TXI Cement Company plant in Midlothian, three of them were burned critically. The plant is in North Texas near Dallas. In a statement issued last night, TXI said it had few details about what happened but the men suffered their burns while doing maintenance work in a kiln in the main processing area of the plant. The three workers with the worst burns were air lifted to Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas, the two others were taken by ground ambulance. Channel 13 News’ story is here.

If you or a family member have been injured at work, such as in a construction site accident, call Houston-based personal injury attorneys Smith & Hassler for a free consultation regarding your legal rights. Smith & Hassler has represented hard-working Texans injured on the job for more than 20-years.

ABC Channel 13 News has posted a brief report on an explosion at the KMTEX chemical plant near Port Arthur, Texas that has injured 3 workers and killed one worker. The incident happened around 2:00PM on Thursday March 31, 2011.  Apparently an explosion was followed by a flash fire. A Jefferson County Sheriff’s Deputy named Rod Carroll is quoted as telling KFDM-TV of Beaumont that the explosion involved gasoline that was being processed. Another statement credited to Jefferson County Emergency Management Coordinator Greg Fountain was that a 500 barrel fuel tank had exploded. Two of the injured workers were airlifted, one to Memorial Hermann Hospital and one to John Sealy Hospital in Galveston. Another was taken by ambulance to Christus St. Elizabeth Hospital in Beaumont.

KMTEX’s web site identifies the company as a specialist in the custom processing of petrochemicals, speciality chemicals, oleochemicals, agricultural chemicals, and food grade chemicals. The plant is located at 2450 S. Gulfway Drive, Port Arthur, Texas 77641.

KMTEX chemical plant near Port Arthur, scene of a deadly explosion on March 31, 2011

The Houston Chronicle also provided coverage of the KMTEX explosion. The Chronicle article indicates authorities will be investigating how a flammable solvent remained in a pipeline workers were welding when the explosion occurred. According to unnamed witnesses, one of the workers was welding a pipeline that contained coal tar naptha solvent when the fire occurred: the workers thought all of the solvent had been evacuated from the line. Naptha is a by-produce of crude oil and is highly flammable. According to authorities, one of the injured workers suffered a head injury and another had fractured legs.

Our thoughts are with the friends and family of the deceased worker and the three men injured in the blast. Smith & Hassler believes that the hard-working men and women of the Houston energy industry deserve a safe working environment and should be able to expect to return home safely at the end of each work day. If you or a loved one has been hurt in a plant explosion, call our experienced personal injury attorneys right away.

Firefighters responded to a fire at Three Fountain Apartments around 4:15AM the morning of Friday March 4th. The apartments are located on Burgoyne Road near Fountain View Drive. Houston News Channel 2 reports that when firefighters arrived on the scene they saw flames coming from two apartments. Investigators said a man jumped from a second story apartment: he sustained second and third degree burns over 35% of his body and was transported to Memorial Hermann Hospital to be treated. The cause of the fire is under investigation: one apartment was completely destroyed and three more apartments had smoke or water damage.

A man was burned jumping from a second-story window escaping a fire at Three Fountains Apartments in Houston

If you have been seriously injured in a house, apartment or other type of building fire, contact the experienced personal injury lawyers at Smith & Hassler for a free consultation. Sometimes building fires are purely accidental and are nobody’s legal fault. Other times building fires happen due to negligence: failure to maintain smoke detectors, properly light emergency exits, provide and maintain fire extinguishers, improperly locked fire exits and other reasons. Burn injuries are almost always painful and frequently severe and debilitating.

Houston Fire Department responded to a one-alarm fire that broke out at an apartment complex on Burgoyne near Nantucket around 4:15am. The only injuries reported at this time are burn injuries to a man who was apparently a resident at the complex: he was rushed to a nearby hospital and his condition is unknown. Officials from HFD are working to determine what caused the fire. ABC Eyewitness News on Channel 13 is reporting the apartment complex is called Oaks of Cypress Station, and that the resident was taken to hospital for what is being described as an asthma attack. The same Channel 13 report also quotes firefighters as saying the apartment complex was built in the 1970’s before codes were in place that required fire hydrants, so the nearest fire hydrant to the complex was 600 feet away.

Some fires are simply accidents that are nobody’s fault, others are preventable tragedies due to the negligence of one or more people. Unfortunately (particularly early in the process) it is difficult to determine which you are dealing with: accident or negligence. If you have been injured in a house fire, apartment fire or other type of fire, call or email Houston personal injury law firm Smith & Hassler for a free consultation.

One-year old Elias Castillo died Friday evening, the fourth young child to die due to injuries from the Jackie’s Child Care fire in Houston earlier this week. Two other children remain in critical condition in Shriners Hospital for Children in Galveston where they are being treated for smoke inhalation and burns. One child has been released from Memorial Hermann Children’s Hospital. Jessica Rene Tata, the 22-year old operator of the day care, has been accused of leaving the children home alone at the time of the fire, but has not yet been charged with any criminal wrongdoing. Ron Tata, Rene’s brother, says that she has hired a lawyer.

19-year old John Chestnut, who watched the tragic scene unfold Thursday afternoon, says he thinks Tata may have left something cooking on the stove when she went out to the grocery store. He said he watched Tata pull into the driveway of the home day care and calmly carry groceries to the front door. Chestnut said when she opened the door smoke came pouring out and Tata ran toward himself and others screaming for help and saying the children were inside.

Chestnut’s friend Geoffrey Deshano saw a little boy through a window on the daycare. Chestnut said Deshano then broke a window to try to get to the boy but was forced back by heavy smoke. Chestnut went in to the daycare through the back door, crawling and squinting as he went. He said he saw flames coming from the stove and could hear the children screaming. Chestnut quickly was overcome by the smoke and said he had to retreat. “I keep hearing kids screaming in my head when I’m sleeping” Chestnut told the Houston Chronicle.

God bless these poor little children and their families.

Local News Channel 2 is reporting that fire investigators suspect the 22-year old owner/operator of a West Houston day care left the kids along before a deadly fire broke out, ultimately killing 3 of the children and seriously injuring 4 other children. Jessica Tata, owner of Jackie’s Child Care, has not yet been charged with a crime, but police and fire investigators said a criminal case was building as evidence of what lead to the deadly fire is gathered.

Sources within Houston Fire Department told Local 2 Investigates that a neighbor states they saw Jessica Tata returning from a shopping trip to the grocery store, during which she left the kids alone at the home. That neighbor, Geoffrey Deshano, told Local 2 he saw Tata pulling up, frantically calling for help as she repeatedly stated she left the kids alone. Deshano told HFD investigators that he watched Tata fumble for keys, unable to get into the day care center. HFD spokeswoman Assistant Fire Chief Lisa Campbell said HFD is waiting to speak to Tata and they have not yet had an opportunity to do that.

Ron Tata, Jessica Tata’s brother, said the claim that Tata left the children alone is not accurate. The Houston Chronicle quoted him as saying that those claims were “crap” and he appeared to fault neighbors who, he said, stood by watching and doing nothing as Jessica Tata attempted to remove kids from the burning house. Speaking on the condition of anonymity, an investigator said that even the very cheapest of smoke detectors will sound an alarm before smoke is visible. In this fire smoke filled the entire home, so any adult would have had enough time to save all seven of the children had someone been in the house at the time of the fire.

Deshano said that once he and Tata were finally able to open the back door, smoke poured out and a crying and choking child emerged. He said they couldn’t reach the other children because the smoke was so thick and choking. The Houston Chronicle reported that as the tragic scene unfolded Jessica Tata, who had burns to her hands, turned to her mother and told her to call a lawyer, a Houston Chronicle photographer said.

If the Houston Fire Department investigation ultimately reveals that Jessica Tata did leave the seven children alone in the house before or at the time of the deadly fire, her doing so almost certainly goes beyond ordinary negligence and rises to the level of gross negligence. These vulnerable children, none of whom could probably even reach to open a door knob to escape the deadly smoke and fire, depended on the protection and good judgment of those charged with caring for them. If they were left alone in the house, even for a short amount of time, that is totally unacceptable and has resulted in a terrible, preventable tragedy.

The tragic scene at Jackie's Child Care in West Houston where 3 children died and 4 were seriously hurt

20-month old Kendyll Stradford who died in the fire at Jackie's Child Care in Houston

If you or a loved one have been injured in a house fire, call the experienced Houston personal injury attorneys at Smith & Hassler who have aggressively represented injured Texans for more than 20-years.

Thursday Feb 24, 2011: Despite Houston firefighters‘ heroic efforts yesterday, a fire at a home based day care left 3 young children dead and four hospitalized: all of the children were aged between 18 months and 3-years. Houston Fire Department Assistant Chief Bill Barry said that some of the children suffered burns, others suffered smoke inhalation. Firefighters carried 5 of 7 seven children from inside the burning house, which is known as Jackie’s Child Care and located at 2810 Crest Park Lane near Richmond and South Eldridge Parkway in far west Houston.

Per state child care rules, the owner/operator of the day care Jessica Rene Tata should not have been caring for more than six children over the age of 18 months. Texas Department of Family and Protective Services will most likely investigate that and other issues. Fire crews were alerted to the fire at 1:35PM and when they arrived found flames and smoke billowing from the house: 2 of the children were outside and 5 were still trapped inside.

Michael McAnders, a witness to the tragedy who lives nearby, said 22-year old Tata was standing outside the structure during the fire and screaming for the children. McAndrews said Tata had stated she went to the bathroom and came out to find the kitchen on fire. He said he overheard Tata saying she carried 2 of the kids out and told the remaining 5 young kids to crawl out. Tata tried going back in to reach a third child but was driven back by the smoke and flames before passing out prior to firefighters arriving.

The 7 children involved have not been identified. One child was taken to Memorial Hermann Southwest and another to Memorial Hermann Memorial City. Those children died. Three other children were taken to Memorial Hermann Children’s Hospital. Of those three, one child was transported to Shriner’s Hospital burn center in Galveston in critical condition. The other two children were taken to West Houston Medical Center and one was later transferred to Texas Children’s Hospital. Tata was placed on a gurney and taken to Memorial Hermann Katy Hospital.

The Houston Chronicle has reported that exactly one year before the fire Tata’s day care operation, which is registered with the State as a “child care home” was cited by the Dept of Family and Protective Services Child Care Licensing division for not having a fire extinguisher or carbon monoxide sensor on site. Tata has told of these defects on February 24, 2010 which was about 3-days before she opened the facility for business. These problems were later corrected according to Gwen Carter, a DFPS spokeswoman.

The Houston Fire Department confirmed the fire started in the kitchen, but the cause of the fire is not yet known. God bless those little children and their families as they attempt to cope with this tragedy.

A tragic fire at Jackie's Child Care in Houston claimed the lives of 3 small children and injured 4 more.