Fires raged through Houston’s southeastern suburbs but were minor Tuesday, a day after a pipeline exploded when a car hit a valve, authorities said.
“Progress was made as rescue crews worked through the night. The fire is significantly smaller,” the city of Deer Park said in a statement.
City officials said police and the FBI had no preliminary information to suggest a coordinated or “terrorist” attack and “this appears to be an isolated incident.”
The investigation included efforts to obtain more information about the driver. The fire burned a car, a large area of land, electrical wires and houses.
Police did not provide information on the person’s condition.
The evacuation zone included about 1,000 homes, and initial shelter-in-place orders included schools.
Operators stopped the flow of natural gas into the pipeline, but so much remained in the miles of pipeline that firefighters could do little more than monitor and flood nearby homes.
Energy Transfer, the Dallas-based company that owns the pipeline, had expected the fire to be extinguished by Tuesday evening.
Firefighters arrived Monday morning immediately after an explosion at a valve station in Deer Park rocked homes and businesses, including a Walmart. A pickup truck hit a valve after crashing into a wall at the edge of the Walmart parking lot, authorities said.
