A fire at a state prison in Huntsville early Friday morning resulted in over 600 inmates being evacuated.
The Huntsville Fire Department began to receive calls about smoke at the Texas State Penitentiary near downtown Huntsville on 12th Street at around 2:30 a.m., according to KHOU 11.
Firefighters arrived on the scene to discover smoke coming from a cell block, but it quickly spread to affect other areas as well.
“What we believe is that the attic of the West Building and the attic and third floor of the administration building to be impacted,” said Amanda Hernandez, director of communications for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, per KHOU 11.
Initial reports said that 320 of the 1,600 inmates housed at the prison were evacuated, but that number has since grown to roughly 655 after the fire continued to spread, per KHOU 11.
“The first number was just our initial number and then I believe we just had to evacuate another area for precaution,” said Hernandez, according to KBTX 3.
Around 400 of the 655 inmates were transferred to other locations around the state that had additional space.
Those who were evacuated and not transferred were moved to a different part of the prison until further notice. Hernandez said that all inmates were accounted for, per ABC 13.
Huntsville Fire Chief Greg Mathis spoke on Friday about the plan for addressing the damage done by the fire.
“We may very well be out here until up in the day today, depending on what the mop-up operations look like once we get inside the cell block,” Mathis said in a press conference.
“We’re inside the administration building right now trying to get that kind of cleaned up a little bit.”
Multiple agencies from the area were involved in the management of the fire.
The Huntsville Fire Department, Dodge Volunteer Fire Department, Crabb’s Prairie Volunteer Fire Department, Montgomery County ESD 1, Riverside Volunteer Fire Department, and Walker County ESD 2 were all on the scene assisting, according to KBTX 3.
In 2021, an evaluation of the prison from the State Fire Marshal’s Office found nearly 1,700 alleged violations and alleged that “most of the units’ fire alarm systems aren’t functioning properly,” according to The Associated Press.
