Grand Prairie residents claim 'toxic fumes' from plastic manufacturer fire left them with health issues

GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - Several people who work and live in Grand Prairie are suing plastic manufacturer Poly-America.

The plaintiffs claim a massive fire at a Poly-America plant on August 19, 2020, has left them with lasting health issues.

A total of 39 people have joined the class-action lawsuit, which seeks $200,000 per victim. A total of $7.8 million.

Amber Rodriguez claims she still has a smell in her nose and suffers from chronic headaches.

"I live less than a mile away from Poly-America me and my son were asleep and awoke to smoke in our apartment, I had to wake him up," she said. "We had to run out, coughing, burning in my throat, tears in my eyes, had to rush to hospital."

Stacey Mims says he drove through the smoke that day and had to go to the hospital.

"My eyes were burning, and sought medical help as a recruiter and under writer I'm on the phone quite a bit. A lot of times shortness of breath and it affects me professionally," Mims said.

On its website, Poly-America says the plant manufactures products like trash bags and plastic sheets and liners.

The fire burned for 23 hours.

Smoke from the fire at Poly-America in Grand Prairie was picked up by the National weather service radar and spotted as far away as Waco

According to Grand Prairie, an EPA airplane measured the smoke and found no evidence of toxic air quality.

At the time, the city it would work with the company to avoid a type of incident from occurring again. 

Grand Prairie City Council recently accepted a $200,000 settlement from Poly-America to cover expenses from the fire.

The plaintiff's attorney, Jennifer Kinder, says the lawsuit will allow for discovery, which will help determine the cause of the fire.

"We're looking for answers. Answers about what happened that day," she said.