Explosion tears hole in roof of warehouse near Bush IAH Airport
HOUSTON (KTRK) -- A series of explosions were seen, heard and felt outside of a manufacturing facility near Bush Intercontinental Airport.
The blasts happened just before noon at the Stabiltec headquarters on Aldine Westfield Road. The company manufactures and machines oil drilling parts. The explosion and fire was caught on surveillance video.
"You can feel it in your chest when the explosion hit," said eyewitness David Sanchez.
Nearly 20 workers were inside the building when some said they heard an acetylene tank leaking. The gas is used for welding.
"I just saw it on fire and I took off running," said Stabiltec worker Cameron Ridgeway.
Ridgeway said he was just feet away from several tanks that were close by.
"Some people were still there but everyone knew to go. We took off running," said Ridgeway.
The workers said they only had about three minutes to get out. Once they escaped, they began hearing the blasts.
"Once one goes off, they have pressure valves in them to keep them from over-pressurizing, they'll start releasing," said Stabiltec Safety Manager Dustin Carney.
"The building actually moved up. Because of the explosion was that loud," said Sanchez.
Firefighters and HazMat crews arrived on the scene and began extinguishing the flames. From the above, SkyEye 13 captured a view of the damage. A large hole was seen in the roof of that building. The metal was peeled back from the blast.
"Some of the tanks that were inside of the building that exploded; they did pretty much go out from the building and to the backyard area," said Harris County Fire Marshal Lt. Dean Hensley.
Hensley said the focus is now on those tanks and what caused them to leak and explode.
"We have to look into some type of regulator failure or something like that," said Hensley.
"The training is engrained so well that really your panic turns into a course of action," said Carney.
Lt. Hensley told Eyewitness News, Stabiltec has not had any previous violations and has the proper safety procedures in place. The cause of the fire is still unknown.
