A three-alarm fire ripped through a northeast Harris County tire store on Thursday, KPRC Local 2 reported.
Slideshow: 3-Alarm Fire Destroys Tire Store
The blaze broke out at Guaranteed Used Tires on the Eastex Freeway near Mount Houston Road at about 5:30 a.m.
Firefighters from the Westfield, Cypress Creek and Little York fire departments were first to respond but quickly decided they needed help from the Houston Fire Department.
"Most of it appears to be tires, but there may be a few cars in there," HFD Assistant Fire Chief Jack Williams said. "The majority of it appears to be rubber products such as tires."
Columns of flames shot high into the air and smoke covered the sky.
"Sometimes when tires get to burning really, really hot they do put off a gas," Williams said. "Sometimes the flames will look almost like there's a natural gas fire underneath that, but it's just the reaction with the burning rubber and the carbon and everything else in those tires. It creates a very bright flame along with a lot of thick black smoke."
Two large Dumpsters outside the store that were filled with tires and other debris also burned.
The Harris County Fire Marshal's Office will determine the cause of the fire.
No injuries were reported.
