HOUSTON – A shelter-in-place has been lifted after firefighters worked to put out a blaze at a CenterPoint Energy facility in west Houston.
“The shelter-in-place for this incident has been lifted and the fire has been controlled,” the HFD said in a news release. “Crews are using foam to ensure the fire is completely out and does not re-ignite.”
CenterPoint Energy crews said firefighters responded to a transformer fire at the Addicks Substation located at 2105 Brittmoore in Spring Branch. The cause of the fire is unknown at this time.
“It was just billowing black smoke and more billowing and I went across the street on saw the fire behind that house,” said Jan Binch who lives nearby.
Houston firefighters battling a large fire in Northwest Houston. Great work by the brave women and men of HFD. #hfdstrong pic.twitter.com/rdSZl6PU36
— President-HTX FF's Association Patrick M. Lancton (@HTXFire) July 9, 2021
CenterPoint said crews are working closely with local first responders to make sure the area is safe. No injuries or outages have been reported in the incident.
City of Houston’s Office of Emergency Management issued a temporary shelter-in-place for the area due to the chemicals from burning mineral oils.
“My biggest concern at the time was ok, what’s the toxicity of it because it was black,” Bill Lassiter said.
The energy company said the mineral oils are used to cool and insulate the transformer and are not harmful or a threat.
CenterPoint also told KPRC 2 it will be conducting an investigation into the cause of the fire at its Addicks Substation in Spring Branch.