DEVERS — A towering early-morning fire ripped through a popular fuel and food stop along Highway 90 between Beaumont and Houston early Saturday morning, sending flames through the roof and triggering a massive firefighting response from across Southeast Texas.
The Devers Food Mart Shell station at 107 U.S. Highway 90, just inside the Liberty County line about 30 miles west of Beaumont, was engulfed in flames when firefighters arrived shortly after 4 a.m. Saturday.
Devers Assistant Fire Chief Justin Gartner told KFDM News on scene his department received the call at 4:08 a.m., with multiple callers reporting the business was on fire.
When the first engines from Devers and Liberty County Emergency Services District No. 2 arrived, firefighters were met with heavy fire pouring through the roof.
“They found heavy fire over the kitchen area,” Gartner said.
Firefighters initially launched a defensive attack in an effort to get inside and battle the blaze.
But conditions rapidly deteriorated.
“The fire was too hot and moving too rapidly with conditions worsening,” Gartner said.
Firefighters were forced to retreat as the intense heat and rapidly spreading flames made the structure too dangerous to enter.
And then another challenge hit.
The fire had drained Devers’ water system.
“We had already sucked the water system dry in Devers,” Gartner said.
That prompted an urgent call for additional tanker trucks and firefighters from surrounding communities.
The mutual-aid response quickly grew into a massive regional firefighting operation, with departments from Jefferson, Hardin, Montgomery, Polk, Liberty and Chambers counties sending personnel and equipment to help attack the blaze.
Firefighters battled the flames for hours under grueling conditions.
By about 9 a.m., crews had contained the fire and stopped it from spreading, but the operation was far from over.
Gartner described it as one of the largest commercial structure fires Devers firefighters have worked in several years.
“It’ll be a long, tedious day,” he said.
Crews rotated in and out, staying hydrated and replacing exhausted firefighters as the battle continued.
“We hydrate, switch out, drink tons of water,” Gartner said. “That’s why we called for so many departments. Whatever we could get.”
The fire apparently had been burning for some time before firefighters were dispatched.
The store was preparing to open when the fire erupted, according to Gartner.
The cause remains under investigation.
At this point, there is no indication of what sparked the devastating blaze.
Despite the destruction, there was one crucial piece of good news:
Everyone made it out safely. No injuries were reported.
The once-busy Shell station — a familiar stop for travelers making the trek between Beaumont and Houston along Highway 90 — was left heavily damaged after the intense fire tore through the structure.
Firefighters remained on scene for hours Saturday, working to extinguish hot spots and make sure the flames did not reignite.
For the firefighters who answered the call, the morning became a long, exhausting battle against a fire that threatened to overwhelm the small community’s resources.
And for Devers, the towering flames left behind a scene of significant destruction at one of the area’s familiar roadside stops