A human body was found inside a pickup truck that authorities say hit a valve in the head, causing a fire that has been burning for four days.
As the fire, which started Monday, subsided significantly, police were able to access the area around the pipeline in Deer Park. Investigators recovered the white pickup truck and had it towed away Thursday morning.
As Harris County medical examiners processed the vehicle, they recovered and removed human remains found inside, Deer Park officials said in a statement.
“They will now begin their identification process, which will take some time,” officials said.
Authorities say an underground pipe that runs beneath high-voltage power lines in a grassy corridor between Walmart and the Deer Park neighborhood was damaged when the driver of a pickup truck left the store’s parking lot and drove over a manhole wall surrounding the valve assembly.
However, authorities have provided few details about what caused the car to crash into the wall and hit the pipeline valve.
Energy Transfer, the Dallas-based company that owns the pipeline, called it an accident Wednesday. Deer Park officials said a preliminary investigation by police and FBI agents found no evidence of a terrorist attack.
The pipeline is a 20-inch-wide unit that runs for miles through the Houston area. It transports natural gas liquids through Deer Park and La Porte, both southeast of Houston.
The valve equipment appears to be protected by a chain-link fence topped with barbed wire. Energy Transfer did not respond to questions about other safeguards that were in place.
Authorities say they expect the fire to be extinguished by Thursday night.
At one point, authorities evacuated nearly 1,000 homes and ordered people from nearby schools to shelter in place. Authorities told residents to return home Wednesday night. Residents could be seen in their homes Thursday morning assessing the damage.
According to authorities, part of the road near the pipeline will be closed.
Harris County and power transmission officials said air quality monitoring showed no immediate danger to people, despite a towering tower of flames that shot hundreds of feet into the air when the fire broke out, sending up thick black smoke.
Lozano writes for the Associated Press.
