Fire Breaks Out At Pallet Plant In Montana Vista
MONTANA VISTA, TX. — A massive fire burned a business in East El Paso County to the ground and emergency crews had to evacuate several homes.
The flames broke out just after 10 p.m. Friday at Castro Wood Pallets, along the 13700 block of Davidson near Zaragoza.
Bob Ostrenga, with the Montana Vista Fire Department, tells ABC-7 that two propane tanks, each with a capacity of 1,000 gallons, were in the middle of the blaze ready to explode.
Mr. Ostrenga adds, “We would have had a hell of an explosion…we would have probably killed 8 or ten volunteer firefighters out here today.”
The residents who live near theplant wereallowed to return home Saturdayand electricity was restored. It had been turned off earlier as precaution. The flames had burned some power poles to a crisp.
“We’ll let it burn completely out,” Ostrenga said. “We would have probably put in excess of a million gallons or more trying to control this fire which we would have lost anyway.”
As many as 25 to 30 units from fire crews throughout the county responded to the blaze. Fire crews moved three miles away to monitor the flames.
Hotspots were noted as of Saturday night. It’s still unknown what caused the fire.
