Texas Pipeline Explodes, Catches Homes On Fire In Houston Neighborhood

LA PORTE, Texas (AP) — A massive pipeline fire in suburban Houston was shooting a giant plume of fire into the air for more than two hours on Monday as first-responders evacuated a surrounding neighborhood where some homes have caught fire.

The fire began at 9:55 a.m. with an explosion that rattled nearby homes in Deer Park and La Porte, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) southeast of downtown Houston, long the energy capital of the U.S.

“All of a sudden we hear this loud bang and then I see something bright, like orange, coming from our back door that’s outside,” said Geselle Melina Guerra, 25, a La Porte resident. She and her boyfriend live in a mobile home within the evacuation area. They were having breakfast when they heard the explosion close to 9:30 a.m. Guerra’s boyfriend, Jairo Sanchez, 26, woke up his brother and they ran to their car.

“I was just freaking out, pacing around the living room, not really knowing what to do or what was happening. I thought maybe it was an airplane that had crashed down by our house,” Guerra said.

La Porte city spokesperson Lee Woodward told KTRK-TV that they don’t yet know what flows through the pipeline or how it will be shut down. People in nearby schools were told to shelter in place as law enforcement blocked off a wide area.

It wasn’t immediately clear what companies operate the infrastructure involved. At least one gas transmission pipeline and one hazardous liquid pipeline run through the area on fire, according to U.S. Department of Transportation geographic data from the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration. Another gas transmission pipeline cuts diagonally through a nearby residential neighborhood along Spencer Highway, which runs through the suburbs of