TX Cotton Blaze May Smolder for Days

Nov. 27 -- A cotton mote warehouse fire that erupted early Tuesday in East Lubbock and produced smoke seen throughout the county could smolder for days.

At about 3:20 a.m., Lubbock Fire Rescue was notified from night watch companies that the Goetz and Sons Inc. cotton warehouse was on fire in the 1200 block of East 40th Street, said LFR Capt. Kevin Ivy.

"So when we got here, flames were actually going through the roof," he said. "A little bit later, we called a second alarm on (the fire). The roof of the building has actually collapsed in."

He said a building next to the warehouse caught fire as well.

Crews were still working to extinguish the blaze by mid-morning, with materials in the building expected to smolder for days. It remained unclear what sparked the blaze Tuesday.

"We're still trying to get it out before we can actually take a look at it," added Ivy.

Firefighting efforts prompted Lubbock police to block streets close to the blaze to deter traffic, and Ivy said multiple fire hoses were on the ground getting water from different areas.

Portions of East 42nd Street and Locust Avenue were flooded, and Ivy said drivers were urged to stay clear of the area.

The warehouse contains mote, a marketable byproduct of the cotton ginning process, said Shawn Wade, director of policy analysis and research for Plains Cotton Growers.

He said the bales of mote contain mostly plant material - like leaves and sticks - as well as a certain amount of lint.

Jerry Butman, manager of Lubbock Cotton Growers, said most cotton warehouse fires don't start in the warehouse, but rather when the mote bales are being prepared - often triggered by friction, a spark or other heat source.

Butman said cotton growers do their best to avoid sending motes that could have a possible smoldering fire in them.

"We try to make sure if (the fire is) in the motes, we try to make sure that we get it out," he added. "We try to keep that bale quarantined."

Wade added that when a mote bale is packed, much of the oxygen is taken way, but there's enough to sustain a slow burn that can work its way from the inside out.

"But it can eventually work its way out to the edge," he said. "It can flash into more of a fire. It's just hard to detect. If it's something that's inside the bale, you just don't know."

Although nobody intends to send a mote bale that's on fire, it can't always be prevented, Butman said.

"Sometimes you just don't know," he said. "It's part of the mote business, as bad as we wish it wasn't."

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