building fire

Fire engulfs SE Houston building that neighbors call a magnet for crime

Wednesday, April 3, 2024

Fire burns SE Houston building that neighbors call a magnet for crime

ABC13 was the first to show the dramatic flames from an intense firefight. Eyewitness News is learning new information from neighbors who said they've had to deal with the nuisance building.

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Crews working to put out the flames of a fire that engulfed a vacant building in southeast Houston on Tuesday evening.

Eyewitness News crews were on the way to another story at about 6:30 p.m. when ABC13 reporter Alex Bozarjian spotted the vacant building in flames.

Video captured by ABC13 shows the vacant building, believed to have once housed HISD media services, swarmed in black smoke.

The Houston Fire Department said there were no reported injuries and hadn't disclosed the cause of the fire.

The fire department posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, about the building fire at 6:43 p.m., urging drivers to avoid the area due to "heavy emergency traffic."

Houston TranStar cameras captured the plume of smoke in the distance from I-45 and Telephone Road.