A fire at High Tech Finishing in Houston destroyed a considerable amount of the facility’s plating operation.
The fire started overnight on May 20 in the Bellaire section of Houston, where the plant is located, and officials declared a shelter-in-place for residents because of the uncertainty around chemicals used in the operation.
The Houston Fire Department said there was “heavy damage to the building.” Officials say no one was injured.
An automatic alarm was triggered around 4 a.m. at High Tech Finishing’s aviation industry plant, and Houston Fire Chief Samuel Peña says indications point to the fire being accidental.
“Part of the process overheated, and that’s where it seems that the fire started,” Peña told local news media.
Founded in 1984, HighTech Finishing specializes in the aviation interior plating industry. It recently installed a new anodizing production line in April that would allow them to grow into an even larger segment of the aviation industry.
The initial shelter-in-place warning was for those in a 1.5-mile radius surrounding the plant in southwest Houston near Bellaire, according to city officials.
“We did issue a shelter-in-place just because of the concern of the particulates,” Peña said. “There was no explosive danger in the air. The particulates in the air could be respiratory irritants.”
