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DEER PARK (AP) — A flame that towered over a southeast Houston suburb had subsided Tuesday, but continued to burn following a massive pipeline explosion after a vehicle drove through a fence and struck an above-ground valve, officials said.

“Progress has been made as first responder crews worked through the night. The fire is significantly smaller,” according to a statement from the city of Deer Park.

City officials have said investigations by police and local FBI agents have found no preliminary reports that would suggest a coordinated or “terrorist” attack and that “this appears to be an isolated incident.”

The investigation included efforts to learn more about the driver of a vehicle that was incinerated by the pipeline explosion as flames scorched the ground across a wide radius, severed adjacent power transmission lines and ignited homes at a distance.

Police did not provide any information about the person’s condition.

An evacuation area included nearly 1,000 homes and initial shelter orders included schools.

The City of La Porte said it has slightly reduced the evacuation area south of the pipeline fire, but did not say how many people were affected.

Operators shut off the flow of natural gas liquids in the pipeline, but so much remained in the miles of tubing that firefighters could do nothing but watch and hose down adjacent homes.

The statement by Deer Park said Energy Transfer, the Dallas-based owner of the pipeline, expects the fire to burn itself out later Tuesday.

Deer Park Mayor Jerry Mouton Jr. described intense heat from the fire that has continued burning for nearly 24 hours as ladder trucks showered houses from above.

Firefighters initially were dispatched Monday morning, after an explosion at a valve station in Deer Park, adjacent to La Porte, rattled homes and businesses, including a Walmart. Deer Park officials said an SUV drove into the valve after going through a fence on the side of the Walmart parking lot.

Deer Park spokesperson Kaitlyn Bluejacket has said four people were injured. She didn’t provide details about the severity of the injuries.

Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo said in a statement that 20 miles (32 kilometers) of pipeline between the two closed valves had to burn off before the fire would stop.

Anna Lewis, who was walking into the nearby Walmart when the explosion happened, said it sounded “like a bomb went off.” She said everyone inside was rushed to the back of the store and then taken across the street to a grocery store before being bussed to a community center.

“It scared me,” she said. “You really don’t know what to do when it’s happening.”

Geselle Melina Guerra said she and her boyfriend heard the explosion as they were having breakfast in their mobile home.

“All of a sudden we hear this loud bang and then I see something bright, like orange, coming from our back door that’s outside,” said Guerra, who lives within the evacuation area.

Houston, Texas’ largest city, is the nation’s petrochemical heartland and is home to a cluster of refineries and plants and thousands of miles of pipelines. Explosions and fires are a familiar sight in the area, including some that have been deadly, raising recurring questions about the adequacy of industry efforts to protect the public and the environment.

Both Energy Transfer and Harris County Pollution Control are conducting air monitoring in the area and have found no health issues, according to Bluejacket, the Deer Park spokesperson, from the towering plume of fire and smoke that could be seen from at least 10 miles (16 kilometers) away at one point.

The Railroad Commission of Texas, which regulates oil and gas in the state, said its safety inspectors were investigating.

LA PORTE, Texas (AP) — A massive pipeline fire sent a pillar of flame towering over some Houston suburbs on Monday as first responders evacuated a surrounding neighborhood and tried to keep more nearby homes from catching on fire.

The blaze involving a 20-inch pipeline carrying natural gas liquids must burn itself out, according to its operator, Dallas-based Energy Transfer. The company said the flow was shut off but local officials said it could take hours, if not into Tuesday, for the residual material to burn off.

Local authorities would not speculate at an afternoon news conference about what caused the fire and what role a burned car near the source of the flame may have had. Energy Transfer said in its statement that it was “aware of early reports” that a car had struck some valve equipment but did not offer more details, including the origin of those reports.

Firefighters were dispatched at 9:55 a.m. after an explosion that rattled adjacent homes and businesses in Deer Park and La Porte, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) southeast of downtown Houston, long the energy capital of the U.S. The plume of smoke could be seen from at least 10 miles away.

The only injury reported so far was to a firefighter who sustained a minor injury, officials said.

Geselle Melina Guerra said she and her boyfriend heard an explosion at around 9:30 a.m. as they were having breakfast in their mobile home. “All of a sudden we hear this loud bang and then I see something bright, like orange, coming from our back door that’s outside,” said Guerra, 25, who lives within the evacuation area.

Her boyfriend woke up his brother and they ran to their car.

“I was just freaking out, pacing around the living room, not really knowing what to do or what was happening,” Guerra said. “I thought maybe it was an airplane that had crashed down by our house.”

La Porte city spokesperson Lee Woodward told KTRK-TV that people in nearby schools were told to shelter in place as law enforcement blocked off a wide area.

Energy Transfer said in a statement that air monitoring equipment was being set up in the area.

At nearby San Jacinto College, which closed its campus after the explosion, people who gathered included Evan Wyman, who had gotten word after calling police that her dog, Baxter, and had been rescued from her home, which is in the evacuated neighborhood.

“I just know that my dog is rescued,” Wyman said.

Houston is the nation’s petrochemical heartland and is home to a cluster of refineries, plants and thousands of miles of pipelines. Explosions and fires are a familiar sight to residents in Texas’ largest city, including some that have been deadly. The blasts have raised recurring questions about the adequacy of the industry’s plans to protect the public and the impacts of environmental damage.

Video images from KTRK showed a park near the fire had been damaged and firefighters pouring water on adjacent homes. By noon, at least a couple of homes appeared to have caught fire, with smoke pouring from their roofs. There are also several businesses nearby, including a Walmart.

Sanchez said they’re used to evacuations because they live close to other plants near the highway, but he hadn’t seen an explosion before in his 10 years living there.

“We just drove as far as we could because we didn’t know what was happening,” Sanchez said from a parked car at a gas station near his college.

Officials have ordered residents in the Brookglen neighborhood area near the fire to evacuate, Woodward said in an email.

“Please avoid the area and follow law enforcement direction. Further details will be released as available,” Woodward said.

The fire burned through high voltage power lines, and the website PowerOutage.us said several thousand customers were without power in Harris County.

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The former Uvalde, Texas, schools police chief made his first court appearance on Monday for his role in the heavily scrutinized law enforcement response to the 2022 Robb Elementary School shooting.

Pete Arredondo, who was allegedly the incident commander, was part of the slow police response that left 19 students and two teachers dead.

Attorneys for Arredondo filed a motion to dismiss the charges, arguing that the former chief should not be held responsible for the actions he didn’t take that day. The judge did not make a ruling on the motion Monday.

A grand jury indicted Arredondo, as well as responding officer Adrian Gonzales, on multiple counts of child endangerment and abandonment earlier this year. Both have pleaded not guilty.

The indictment alleges that Arredondo did not follow his active shooter training and made critical decisions that slowed the police response while the gunman was “hunting” victims.

Arredondo has said he’s been “ scapegoated ” for his role in the law enforcement response and should not have been considered the lead commander.

Nearly 400 officers from federal, state and local agencies waited more than 70 minutes before confronting the gunman at Robb Elementary. Multiple state and federal investigations have pointed to failures in communication, leadership and training for law enforcement’s response.

A federal review from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Office of Professional Responsibility released Thursday found similar breakdowns in communication and command among Border Patrol agents.

The former schools police chief and Gonzalez, who was indicted on 29 similar counts of endangerment and abandonment, are the only two officers facing criminal charges. If convicted, they can serve up to two years in jail time.