An SUV crash sparked a pipeline fire that has burned for hours and prompted evacuations in a Houston suburb

An SUV drove through a fence and struck a valve for a natural gas pipeline Monday morning, creating a huge plume of flames that damaged houses, melted vehicles, and caused the evacuation of 100 homes, officials said.

An SUV drove through a fence and struck a valve for a natural gas pipeline Monday morning, creating a huge plume of flames that damaged houses, melted vehicles, and caused the evacuation of 100 homes, officials said. The fire was expected to continue burning into early Tuesday morning, but flow to the ruptured line was shut off and the fire was burning itself out, the city of Deer Park said in a statement Monday night. “No air monitoring issues have been reported at this time,” and Harris County hazmat officials will conduct an investigation once the flames have diminished, the statement said. The 20-inch pipeline caught fire just before 10 a.m. Monday in La Porte, Texas, about 25 miles southeast of Houston, authorities in La Porte and nearby Deer Park said. Preliminary reports suggest it was not “terroristic activity,” according to Deer Park officials. Deborah Gamel, 69, was in her home with her husband Carl, 63, directly across from the playground next to the pipeline when the fire erupted. Within minutes of the fire starting, “the heat inside the house was so intense it was like being in an oven,” Gamel said.