Ammunition disposal business destroyed after fire caused explosion in Montgomery Co., officials say

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Texas (KTRK) -- An explosion rocked eastern Montgomery County on Tuesday morning after an ammunition disposal facility caught fire.

Neighbors told ABC13 they could hear the blast from miles away. Officials said it's a miracle no one was hurt.

"All I heard was a boom," Lois Jones, who lives nearby, told ABC13 Reporter Jeff Ehling. "A really loud boom around 7:15. It was loud. It felt like it shook my whole house."

"It was pretty loud and it sounded like a warzone," another neighbor said.

Montgomery County Emergency Service District 3 was called to a fire at Timberline Environmental Services at 3325 Honea Egypt Rd. at 6:45 a.m. By the time firefighters arrived at the facility, the entire building was on fire and bullets were discharging inside.

Firefighters were getting ready to battle the flames when the building suddenly exploded. Officials said there were about eight semi-trailers worth of ammunition inside.

"We did have a couple explosions. Some of it was from the ammunition," Chief Leonard Mikeska said. "There were two propane cylinders from their tow motors. They exploded from the intense heat. That's why you see all the shrapnel and metal in the street."

It all started when employees at the facility were moving barrels of ammunition and noticed one of them started to produce smoke, firefighters said. That's when the employees called the fire department.

"It took off pretty quick from there," Mikeska said. "After [the firefighters] arrived, they did have several explosions that went off. Thank God nobody was hurt."

Mikeska said the company brings in old or deflective live ammunition from outside sources and disposes of it. They take the primers and lead out and melt them down, then burn or destroy the gun powder.

Fortunately, Montgomery County ESD 3 was already familiar with Timberline Environmental Services and had a pre-fire plan in place because of the known hazards.

When the explosion happened, the firefighters had already parked their trucks in a safe area, Mikeska said. The firefighters said it was an incredibly powerful blast.

"I cant emphasize enough how important the pre-fire plans that we have because they tell us what is in the building. They tell us how the building is constructed and where our water supplies are, electricity, owner information -- all that stuff," Mikeska said. "Had we not known the hazard here, we could have maybe had some loss of firefighters' lives."

The building is a total loss. Crews are going to assist firefighters in pulling the rest of the building apart, according to Mikeska. Meanwhile, firefighters were still battling hotspots.

"We had rounds popping off the whole time, so everyone's kind of trying to set up at a distance and make sure that they are not getting hit. We're trying to set up the dump tank because there's no fire hydrants in the area," Battalion Chief Patrick Schafer recalled. "And as that's going on, the explosion happened. So once it blew up, debris went everywhere. There was a pretty decent fireball from what I saw. Pieces start flying everywhere, you start seeing people ducking down, a few people hit the ground."

Officials said the explosion caused windows to shatter at some homes in the area.

ABC13 crews at the scene spotted numerous shell casings scattered around the debris from the explosion.

The Montgomery County Fire Marshals Office is investigating the cause of the initial fire.

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