A fire at a plastics manufacturer in the Humble area led to sky-high flames overnight. Investigators are now looking into the cause of the fire.
Humble-area fire crews were called to 1731 Treble Drive around 1 a.m. Tuesday. When firefighters arrived, the building was already engulfed in large flames.
Video from the scene shows a ladder truck spraying water down onto the burning building.
According to fire officials, the building belongs to a company that makes trash bags and other plastic products.
City of Humble Chief Fire Marshal James Nykaza said there were a few employees inside the building when the fire started, but thankfully, they were able to get out safely.
He said it took about an hour and a half to extinguish the massive flames, and crews were still monitoring hot spots hours after the fire was first reported.
Part of the reason it was more difficult — besides how hot it is outside — is because it’s an older building and the steel roof collapsed into the interior.
“It’s very challenging when dealing with hydrocarbon or plastic like this. It doesn’t just go out like paper does. We have to put a lot of water on it to extinguish those types of fires,” Nykaza said.
In total, crews from six fire departments responded to the scene, including Atascocita, Eastex, Spring, Porter, Houston and Montgomery County.
Harris County Hazmat Response was monitoring the scene and, so far, there are not any air quality concerns, according to Nykaza.
CenterPoint Energy shut down power to the entire block because the fire reached some of the power lines leading to the business.
For now, it’s unclear how the fire started. The investigation is ongoing.
Fire crews will likely be at the scene for several hours. As of 6 a.m. Tuesday, crews still had not gone inside the building.