VIDEO: Firefighters from multiple agencies battle a fire at a decommissioned power plant along Highway 146 in the Bacliff area, though officials say the flames have weakened significantly since Monday morning. According to the Texas City Fire Department, the fire broke out around 2:30 a.m. Sunday at the old P.H. Robinson Power Plant on Highway 146 near 29th Street and Avenue J.
Fire officials said no one was supposed to be at the plant, as the site has been shut down for some time. Texas City Fire Captain Jason Grimm said an old cooling tower at the plant caught fire and collapsed.
A second tower also caught fire, followed by a third. By about 7:30 a.m., most of the structures had come down. Firefighters say the plant’s cooling towers were made mostly of wood, contributing to rapid collapse as they burned.
Grimm said no nearby structures or neighborhoods were threatened, though KHOU 11 reporter Michelle Choi observed ash and embers falling in a community close to the site. As a precaution, a limited shelter-in-place was issued for parts of San Leon from 8th Street to Galveston Bay.
KHOU-TV CBS 11 Houston
