CYPRESS, Texas – Construction on a new house took a dangerous turn when crews hit a gas line sending flames shooting into the air Tuesday morning in northwest Harris County.
According to the Cy-Fair Fire Department, one of contractors working on the home suffered burns to his arm. The fire started around 11:30 a,m. at a house in the Cypress Creek Lakes South subdivision.
Huge flames shot up out of the ground after workers ruptured the gas line. Firefighters worked for hours spraying water to try to keep the fire from spreading.
There was no hope of saving the home, but it went up in a matter of minutes. A woman who was supposed to move in there next showed up in tears.
It took firefighters and CenterPoint crews more than three hours to get the gas turned off and the flames out.
By the time it was over one home was destroyed and two others heavily damaged.
"Found out a construction crew was out here digging fence lines. They were augering down and hit a gas line," Brian Shirley, with the Cy-fair Volunteer Fire Department, said.
Remarkably, the worker operating the equipment suffered only minor burns. He was treated on the scene and then released. Nobody else was injured.
"What if somebody was walking by? What if? Anything could have happened, anyone of them could have gotten killed whoever was doing it... He's lucky he didn't get killed," Asia Wallace, a witness, said.
Now investigators are working to find out how this happened. CenterPoint says it's not known yet if anybody called to have that lined marked before digging.
