HOUSTON – Explosions and a fire broke out at a warehouse in north Houston.
Cell phone video captured the chain reaction explosions after an Acetelyne tank caught fire at the StabilTec Repair Facility.
"You can feel the blast, it knocks you down a bit," said Dustin Carney, StabilTec Safety Manager.
"I just ran outside, when I turned around I saw the flames coming out of one of the tanks," said employee Javier Vazquez.
At around 11:45 a.m. Thursday, firefighters were called out to the building on Aldine Westfield at Rankin. The Harris County Fire Marshal's Office says a tank caught fire, which then caused several other tanks around it to explode.
"I heard that pop, and I looked up and you can see the flame shooting out and I instantly went into that panic mode and said OK everyone out," said Dustin Carney, head of Quality Safety Health and Environmental practices for the company.
"Acetelyne is an extremely volatile gas so under slight pressure the gas can ignite by itself, all it takes is good enough friction and it is gone," said Carney.
From Sky 2 you could see the extensive damage to the building and roof. Carney says all the workers get safety training once a month and the evacuation plan was executed perfectly. All 15 StabilTec employees got out of the building safely.
"It was a very scary situation but all my men worked perfectly. They did exactly what they were supposed to and they operated exactly as I wanted them to," Carney said.
Stabiltec is a manufacturer of downhole tools for the oil and gas industry.