A fire on the roof of a Houston hospital tower drew a heavy response Friday evening but ended without harm. The Houston Fire Department responded to a fire at the Centennial Tower at Houston Methodist in the Texas Medical Center.
The building involved is not yet in use. The Centennial Tower is a Houston Methodist tower that is still under construction, a state-of-the-art hospital that is slated to open in 2027, so there were no patients or medical offices using the facility.
The hospital pinpointed what sparked the response. Houston Methodist said that a piece of equipment on the roof of the Centennial Tower caught fire and caused minor damage to a small section of the roof insulation.
Crews knocked it down without incident. Houston Methodist said the fire was quickly extinguished by the Houston Fire Department, that no injuries were reported, and that there is no ongoing risk to patients, visitors or employees.
The early response looked far more dramatic than the outcome. The blaze was upgraded to a two-alarm fire because it is a large building and because of the hot weather, and dozens of firefighters worked on the rooftop of the high-rise.
Fighting a fire that high posed its own challenges. With a ladder truck unable to reach the top of the tall building, firefighters had to work from the roof itself to get water to the fire.
The visible fire eased over the course of the coverage. Some orange and yellow flames were visible earlier in the evening, but crews brought it down to just smoke before getting the fire under control.