TYLER COUNTY, TX (KTRE) -
Tyler County authorities have avoided forced evacuations and are trying to keep a spill of oil, gas, water and mud contained following a spill at a rig early Monday.
Emergency Management Coordinator Dale Freeman said workers were on a oil drilling site and working on a rig when it had a blow out and began spilling the mixture at 1 a.m. near County Road 3725, which is seven miles north of Dam B.
Freeman said the crew evacuated the scene immediately, but a contracted crew came out at 7 a.m. Monday and determined more evacuations were not necessary. However, evacuation could be order if things get out of hand.
"The gas if it had a source of ignition it would be highly flammable and it would either explode or create a massive fire," Freeman said.
Crews have build levees around the scene to try to contain it, but the mixture was still spilling from the rig.
Freeman said there still is a fear that there could be an explosion, so a no-fly zone has been set up with a five-mile radius and 3,000 feet in the air.
BBX owns the drill. A call to a company official for comment has not yet been returned.
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