Deer Park pipeline burnoff estimated to last through early Tuesday morning, company says
Spencer Highway is closed in both eastbound and westbound directions.
LA PORTE, Texas (KTRK) -- The company that owns the pipeline that exploded and ignited in a daylong fire in Deer Park estimated a burnoff lasting until early Tuesday morning.
Energy Transfer gave an update late Monday evening, hours after the blast off in the 9000 block of Spencer Highway.
As of 10 p.m., the company said flames were still burning but reduced. It added that no air monitoring issues were reported.
The update comes after Deer Park police said that an SUV hit an above-ground pipeline valve. Preliminary reports also suggests no terroristic activity and that it was an isolated incident, police added.
According to police, the SUV drove through a fence on the west side of a nearby Walmart parking lot in the 9000 block of Spencer Highway. The vehicle entered the adjacent pipeline right-of-way and hit the valve.
Police are working to identify the vehicle and the driver.
The resultant explosion started in Deer Park and then spread south under Spencer Highway to La Porte, as the highway separates Deer Park to the north and La Porte to the south.
Multiple agencies responded to the scene, including the Deer Park Office of Emergency Management, which handled the west side of the fire, and La Porte, which handled the east side.
Energy Transfer, the company that owns the pipeline, said liquid natural gas is burning, and it will be hours before the fire burns off.
Energy Transfer sent Eyewitness News the following statement:
"We experienced an incident this morning in La Porte, Texas, at a valve station along Spencer Highway for a 20" natural gas liquids line that resulted in a fire. There are no reports of injuries at this time. The LaPorte Fire Department is on the scene and has evacuated all homes and businesses within a half mile of the incident site. The line has been isolated so that the residual product in the line can safely burn itself out. We have no timeline at this point on how long that process will take, but we are working closely with local authorities. We are aware of early reports indicating that an unknown passenger car entered our right-of-way and struck the value location. Air monitoring equipment is in the process of being set up in the area. We will continue to release details as they become available."
SEE MORE: What are natural gas liquids? La Porte identifies 'Y Grade NGL' as chemical burning in pipeline
Aerial views show firefighters spraying homes right behind the fire with water. The front of the houses appeared to have smoke and fire damage.
A Deer Park official told ABC13's Daniela Hurtado that four people were injured from the event, including a firefighter for minor injuries. The four also includes two hospitalizations and two heat-related injuries.
The flames grew at one point, creating smaller grass fires that crews are working to keep under control. City officials said the impact zone is about 1/2 mile from the fire itself.
During a press conference, Deer Park Mayor Jerry Mouton said the fire is in a contained area, but local authorities have implemented evacuations and shelter-in-place orders for nearby areas, including HEB, Walmart, Heritage Elementary, College Park Elementary, James H. Baker, San Jacinto College.
Energy Transfer said in part of a public statement that an investigation is underway to determine the cause of the fire.
In the wake of the event, the company set up a help one for anyone displaced and/or impacted by the fire at 855-430-4491.
At one point, CenterPoint's outage map showed just about 7,000 customers without power in the Deer Park area.
The numbers are fluid.
The adjacent property is owned by Coastal Industrial Water Authority. However, the company's executive director told Eyewitness News that "the fire is not associated with CWA."
As for air monitoring, Harris County Precinct 2 shared that it plans to display live readings soon on its dashboard. When the measurements are taken, they will populate the map using the aforementioned link.
Keep in mind that the readings you will see are meant to be a comparison based on historical "base readings." They are not a determination of how good or bad the air quality is, but rather a way to see spikes in the hourly readings, Harris County Pollution Control said.
According to Harris County Property Records, the fire is happening on or right near a CenterPoint-owned property.
"CenterPoint Energy is monitoring the incident on Spencer Highway in LaPorte, which is unrelated to the company's natural gas operations or equipment. We are also cooperating with first responders. Putting safety first, the public should avoid this area until further notice from local emergency officials. When it is safe to do so, our electric crews will go into the area to assess the damage to our transmission and distribution power lines, poles and equipment and begin restoring service to impacted customers as safely and quickly as possible," CenterPoint told ABC13 in a statement.
Road closures
Spencer Highway is closed in both eastbound and westbound directions.
The City of La Porte reopened Luella Boulevard as part of a reduction of the evacuation area south of the fire. As of 7 p.m., the current evacuated areas is bounded by Scotch Moss, Spencer Highway, Canada Road, and Oak Haven/Eagle Run.
Evacuations and shelter in place
An evacuation was ordered between Spencer Highway and Oakhaven, between Luella and Canada, in the Brookglen neighborhood of La Porte. The order initially extended to Fairmont Parkway but was scaled back later in the afternoon.
The evacuations and shelter-in-place orders also apply to nearby areas, including HEB, Walmart, Heritage Elementary, College Park Elementary, James H. Baker, and San Jacinto College.
Avoid the area and follow law enforcement directions.
Authorities said about 50 homes have been evacuated, and about five homes are being watered down.
Harris County Precinct 2 initially announced the East Harris County Activity Center in Pasadena as a shelter, but later in the evening, officials said the facility was closed. Previously announced shelter at Faithbridge Church at 4711 Center St. in Deer Park is remains open for those impacted.
A reunification center has also opened at the La Porte Recreation and Fitness Center on Broadway.
The San Jacinto College Central Campus in La Porte will remain closed for the rest of the day, the college said in an update at about 12:35 p.m. All classes and activities are canceled after the college was initially put under a shelter in place.
Central Campus is expected to resume normal classes and activities on Tuesday.
Students and staff at Heritage Elementary School and College Park Elementary School are also under a shelter in place in La Porte ISD.
La Porte ISD said students who live in affected neighborhoods where buses can't access due to road closures have been contacted by the districts, and those parents need to arrange pick-up for their children.
"While our schools are continuing to operate normally, students from several of our campuses live in the area affected by the evacuation. Therefore, we are unable to transport those children home by bus. The district is in the process of contacting parents who will need to arrange for pickup of their students (at their home campus)," La Porte ISD said.
13 Investigates contacted the Railroad Commission of Texas, which released this statement:
"Railroad Commission of Texas pipeline safety inspectors are investigating the fire that occurred at an Energy Transfer natural gas liquid pipeline in La Porte Monday morning. Energy Transfer has shut down the portion of the pipeline that caught fire. RRC inspectors will work with state and local emergency responders at the scene. The fire occurred in a pipeline corridor, and the RRC is notifying other pipeline operators in the corridor of the incident and getting information on measures they are taking to ensure the safety of their systems."
ABC13 has several crews at the scene, along with SkyEye, bringing you continuous live coverage in the video player above.
13 INVESTIGATES: Energy Transfer waits hours before providing statement on pipeline fire
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