A car — with a blown tire and traveling on its rim — caused several fires Saturday east of Houston.
Multiple Houston Rural units responded at about 11:30 a.m. to reports of several brush fires along Highway B east of Houston, including a sizable blaze adjacent to the radio station studio. Fire Chief Don Gaston said the fires were sparked by a vehicle that was traveling an extended distance with a blown tire, as a rim made continued contact with pavement.
“He came all the way from around Licking and started setting fires around Raymondville,” Gaston said. “The car finally caught fire in town and the back end of it burned pretty good. Some of our guys had been doing some training and came up behind him and put it out quick.
“But I’ll tell you what, I saw it go by and it looked like how a NASCAR race car looks when it gets in a wreck and sparks just roll out from under the back.”
The Raymondville Fire Department responded to one of the fires, that was reportedly close to a home at 18475 Highway B. Gaston said the vehicle responsible for igniting the series of blazes was finally stopped by police near U.S. 63 and West Highway 17 in Houston.