The Houston Fire Department said about 100 firefighters battled the fire. No injuries were reported.
HOUSTON — It was a dangerous situation Thursday morning in northwest Houston when a warehouse went up in flames.
“I was down there staining some furniture, and the blaze caught my eye,” Danny, a nearby business owner, told KHOU 11 News.
It started as an eye-catching fire at Olympia drywall company’s warehouse near Highway 290 and Mangum and quickly turned to a large and roaring three-alarm fire.
“I was worried about it blowing up,” Danny said.
Fire officials told KHOU 11 News that as crews arrived and started battling the fire, they quickly learned that two nearby fire hydrants weren’t working.
“It’s very concerning because that’s our lifeline,” Houston Fire Department Chief Thomas Muñoz said. “That water is what establishes, obviously, what we need to put out the fire. More importantly, we need that to protect our firefighters.”
Fire officials said they quickly moved to plan B, calling in over 100 firefighters and using more than 4,000 feet of fire hose to access water from other hydrants.
“It’s going to take a lot of manpower and apparatus to basically moving that water from the fire hydrant to right here. It takes a lot of hose, and a lot of power,” said Houston Deputy Fire Chief Doug Harrison.
Thankfully, plan B worked. Harrison said crews were able to contain the fire to the original warehouse, and there were no reports of any injuries. But Houston Mayor John Whitmire told KHOU 11 News there is still work to be done.
“I will leave here, go back to City Hall, and hold Public Works and other city employees accountable,” Mayor Whitmire said.
KHOU 11 News reached out to Houston Public Works about the non-working hydrants. They tell us the city’s water department is now investigating.
Crews say they are still working to learn the cause of the fire.
Watch the update HFD gave at the scene:
Watch the update Whitmire and fire officials gave at the scene:
