Houston-area pipeline fire prompts evacuations, shelter-in-place orders for thousands

A natural liquid gas pipeline erupted near Houston on Monday, prompting authorities to evacuate homes and businesses as shelter-in-place orders covered multiple schools.

Evacuation orders covered about 50 homes in Deer Park, where the fire originated, about 20 miles southeast of Houston. At least a few of the five residences nearest the blaze have been damaged, city officials said at a news conference.

A responding firefighter from nearby Pasadena was injured near the fire, officials from the neighboring city of La Porte said in a statement. Details about the extent of the injury or the firefighter’s condition were not available, and Pasadena fire officials did not immediately respond to a request for more information Monday.

Evacuation orders covered nearly 1,000 homes and businesses in La Porte, according to the city’s statement. In addition, the La Porte Independent School District said shelter-in-place orders were in effect at multiple campuses in the district.

“All homes and businesses within a half mile of the incident site” are covered by the orders, Energy Transfer, which operates the burning pipeline, said in a statement.

A vehicle may have struck the pipeline infrastructure before flames erupted, the company said. The cause of the fire and the possible breach were still under investigation.

Classes at San Jacinto College’s Central Campus in Pasadena were canceled, and students remaining at the location were told to shelter in place until authorities declare an “all clear,” it said on Facebook.

Deer Park said in its own statement that a Walmart location and an H-E-B grocery store were also covered by shelter-in-place orders.

Deer Park city officials said at the news conference that some residents and business may also be affected by electricity outages because power lines may have been damaged; the utility serving the area reported single-digit numbers of locations without power.

The pipeline blaze erupted at the Energy Transfer facility — the company describes it as its La Porte location, but both cities say it’s in adjacent Deer Park — shortly before 10 a.m., according to the Deer Park and La Porte statements.

Deer Park and La Porte fire officials established a unified command to tackle the blaze from its west and east, respectively, the Deer Park Office of Emergency Management statement said in a statement. Energy Transfer has shuttered the pipeline while firefighters wait for it to burn the last of the fuel, Deer Park officials said.

“There’s a time frame that’s going to be hours, I’ll just say, for how long it’s going to take for that product to be burned off,” Deer Park Mayor Jerry Mouton Jr. said.

Multiple homes have been damaged, he said, and a grass fire that erupted nearby has been contained.

“The fire is very hot,” Mouton said. “A lot of the house structures that are adjacent to that are still catching on fire even though we’re putting a lot of water on them to try and control that.”

The blaze started at a valve station for a 20-inch Y-grade liquid natural gas line, Energy Transfer said in its statement.

“The line has been isolated so that the residual product in the line can safely burn itself out,” it said. “We have no timeline at this point on how long that process will take.”

Harris County Pollution Control air monitoring has found no measurable volatile organic compounds and a “moderate” amount of particulate matter, it said in a statement. People with breathing or other health issues “may want to take precautions,” it said.

The city of Deer Park said Energy Transfer has set up a hotline for residents, businesses and others affected by the blaze: 855-430-4491. Resources may be available, the city said.

Multiple reunification sites in Deer Park and La Porte, including an activity center and a church, have been made available to evacuees.