Lumber yard badly damaged by fire in north Houston

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- A fire at a family-owned business in north Houston was still smoldering several hours after a two-alarm fire sparked early Tuesday morning.

Nobody was hurt, but the damage is tremendous.

The fire started at a lumber and roofing supply company -- Martin's Hardware and Lumber in the 6200 block of Jensen Drive near Melborn Street.

The flames were reported at about 5:30 a.m., and by 5:55 a.m., a second alarm was pulled, meaning that more crews were needed to respond to the scene.

As many as 100 firefighters responded, said Houston Fire Department spokesperson Abby Cortez in an update later in the morning.

While the fire was out by 9 a.m., crews stayed to monitor hot spots. Cortez also said that the air quality was being monitored, but did not present any danger at the moment.

Employees said the family-owned business has been in the north Houston neighborhood for about 80 years. In total, there are about 20 employees affected by the fire.

The employees said they were alerted to the fire when they started getting phone calls from people in the neighborhood.

A woman at a taco shop next door was the first one to alert them that something was going on.

SkyEye video captured flames shooting up through the roof, and heavy, thick black smoke.

Fire officials said the cause is under investigation.

Fortunately, no one was inside at the time and no one was injured.

The employees said the area that burned was the main office and an area that had a lot of paint and paint thinner -- chemicals that are highly combustible.

At one point, the ABC13 crew at the scene had to be pushed back after they heard thudding coming from propane cans exploding inside the warehouse.

"There were reports of pops, if you will. HFD firefighters did remove those tanks off scene to protect the scene. Propane. They were removed. They were small tanks," Cortez said. "I believe it was for the forklifts. The warehouse is housing just a large amount of lumber."

Officials were expected to be at the scene for hours.

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