A major fire at an East Houston recycling facility near the Ship Channel has continued to burn, and more than 15 hours after it first broke out, Houston firefighters were still on scene battling the blaze. The Houston Fire Department said crews were fighting what appeared to be a large pile of tires along with other debris at the site, which has been identified as the Mammoth Metal Recycling facility.
The fire has put a renewed spotlight on a business that has drawn attention before. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Mammoth Metal Recycling was, back in 2023, among 14 individuals federally charged in connection with allegedly stealing more than 53 million dollars from the Paycheck Protection Program, the federal pandemic relief effort that was meant to help businesses keep workers on payroll.
The allegations laid out by federal prosecutors describe a deliberate scheme. According to the press release, the defendants allegedly submitted 29 fraudulent loan applications, using doctored bank and tax records to inflate payroll expenses and qualify for money they were not entitled to. Those charged in the case are all due back in court next month, keeping the legal matter active even as the property burns.
For now, the immediate concern at the site is the fire itself. The blaze, fueled by the large quantity of tires and debris piled at the yard, has proven stubborn, keeping firefighters on scene well into a second day as they worked to bring the flames under control. Crews have remained posted at the facility for hours on end as the material continues to feed the fire.
The prolonged burning has unsettled people who live nearby. Residents said they are scared of the possible effects of the tire fire, worried that it could be putting pollutants into the air around their neighborhood as the smoke lingers over the area. For families close to the site, the uncertainty about what they are breathing has become its own source of stress.
Those concerns are not unfounded, according to an air quality expert who addressed the risks. When tires burn, the expert explained, they release a range of gaseous pollutants that are hazardous for humans to breathe. Among them are carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds, a mix that can build up in the air around a large fire like this one.
Because the smoke is a mixture of pollutants, the expert said, symptoms can vary from irritation of the eyes and throat to coughing, particularly for people who fall into sensitive groups. The recommendation for anyone in an area affected by a tire fire was straightforward: stay indoors and keep windows and doors closed until conditions in the area improve.