FORT WORTH, Texas — A large fire at an electrical substation in north Fort Worth burned late Wednesday night, a day before the city was expected to be hit by a winter storm.
The Fort Worth Fire Department, along with the Saginaw Fire Department, responded to the fire at the substation on Seventeen Lakes Boulevard and Henrietta Creek Road after it was reported around 7:15 p.m.
Fort Worth Fire Department spokesperson Craig Trojacek said in a news conference at around 10 p.m. that residents in about 20 homes close to the fire were told to stay alert, but there were no mandatory evacuations at that time.
Hazmat crews were also on the scene checking the air quality, and Trojacek said there was “nothing to be concerned about.”
“This is going to be a long operation. We don’t have a time on when we’re going to have any conclusion on this,” said Trojacek, who also added that crews could be out there all night.
According to Trojacek, an investigation into the cause of the fire will be conducted after it is under control. He said, despite claims on social media, “everything that we’ve seen up until this point leads us to believe there’s no indication to believe whatsoever of any kind of intent or any kind of bad behavior that anybody was trying to create any kind of harm.”
Trojacek said that crews from Oncor, the electric company which services much of northeast Texas, were at the scene to make sure the area was safe for first responders. He also said that power had been restored to all nearby areas after the fire briefly caused some outages.