PORT ARTHUR, Texas — Flames erupted from Worldwide Sorbent's warehouse in Port Arthur around 2 a.m. Monday.
Crew spent several hours fighting the blaze. Port Neches and Groves Fire Departments assisted with putting the fire out.
Officials decided to cut the power off to those businesses that share the same power grid to reduce the chance of reigniting the fire.
Port Arthur deputy fire chief Robert Havens says this industrial fire presented a lot of challenges.
"We have the electric lines that we have to deal with. We're worried about the electric lines being burnt or burning a transformer out there," Havens said.
Port Arthur City Hall was able to stay open by using several emergency generators. Some other facilities were in the dark for several hours.
Port Arthur Animal Shelter had no generators so they had to rely on air from the outdoors.
Anthony Mitchell is the supervisor of the animal shelter and admits it's been difficult for them to operate.
"We just want to operate with the proper necessities of having electricity," Mitchell said. "You know we have water and things like that but it's the electricity, the power. I was wondering if at some point they were going to ask us to evacuate."
Crews from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality spent the day surveying the air quality. So far, there are no indications anything toxic burned.
"The prevailing wind has been pushing what smoke we did have out over the lake so it really hasn't been impacting the community that much here directly at all," Havens said.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
12News has reached out to Worldwide Sorbent for comment.