Huge plumes of black smoke and a flaming inferno brought firefighters to an east Houston warehouse.
"It was big blazing flames tearing through the tin," recalled neighbor Fredrick Burnett.
"First units reported heavy fire coming through the roof of a one story large warehouse," said HFD's Omero Longoria.
The warehouse was filled with things used for the foam products recycling business.
Longoria said, "The building was loaded with things like mattresses, cushions and what have you. And what they do is develop foam padding with that material."
But on fire that material made the work difficult for the firefighters.
"The fire loaded with foam products inside the building, the decision was made to go into a defense mode," Longoria explained.
They called three alarms for extra man power and focused on preventing the flames from spreading to other buildings.
Longoria told Eyewitness News, "Firefighters had to lay multiple supply lines into these heavy stream appliances in order to deliver enough water to extinguish the fire."
During the fire neighbors were worried about the possibility of toxic fumes. But firefighters said the smoke quickly dissipated into the atmosphere and did not pose a hazard. The warehouse itself is now just a pile of rubble.
