Firefighters battle flames, gusty winds at northwest Harris Co. grass fire

  HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Firefighters spent a chunk of Christmas evening fighting a large grass fire in northwest Harris County, and the gusty winds made the battle more difficult.

The fire broke out shortly before 5pm Tuesday in a grassy area off Clay Road near Katy Hockley Road.

Firefighters from the Katy Fire Department and the Cy-Fair Volunteer Fire Department arrived on scene with a bulldozer to battle the blaze, but the fire had an ally Tuesday night -- gusty winds. Gusty winds can delay firefighters' abilities to contain fires.

"It ran the fire south of us for a while but we were able to contain it," Cy-Fair VFD Chief J.C. Marshall said of the winds. "It got down close to a couple homes on the south side, but they were able to make a stop on it."

The fire had spread to 160 acres before it was completely contained around 6:30pm.

The biggest concern for firefighters had been protecting nearby homes, and thankfully, none were damaged.

No injuries were reported in the fire, but its cause has yet to be determined.

An investigation is underway.

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Strong winds cause exploding transformers, power outages around Houston area

  HOUSTON (KTRK) -- The strong winds overnight led to exploding transformers and power outages across town.

We caught several explosions from our Tower Cam HD above the ABC13 studios in southwest Houston. You'll need to watch out for intersections that do not have lights because of power outages.

CenterPoint Energy reports just under 14,000 homes and businesses are without power as of 9:45am. That's down from a peak of close to 61,000 at around 3am.

Those outages are scattered from southeast Houston to The Woodlands.

Meteorologist Casey Curry says wind advisories are posted across our area today. Look for widespread 40-50mph wind gusts. One wind gust was clocked in at 61 miles per hour at around 3:45 this morning in Bayou Vista.

Be careful on the roads this morning as you may run into road debris throughout your morning drive.

Some ABC13 viewers have sent us photos of the power outages and wind damage across the area. We've seen tree branches in the Heights near the North Freeway and North Main, as well as a downed tree in a neighborhood off Beechnut in southwest Harris County.

You can send your photos to news@abc13.com, but please don't put yourself in harm's way to get the shot.

Many of you are also talking about the outages from the wind on Twitter and Facebook. One of our viewers writes that electricity went out at around 4:30am in Spring. Another says the power remains out in Magnolia. There are also reports of outages on our Facebook page from Friendswood and the Gulfgate area.

We want to hear from you about conditions where you are. Post to our Facebook page or Tweet your report with the hashtag #abc13.

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Strong winds caught on video at auto shop

  HOUSTON (KTRK) -- There was a big scare for workers at a southwest Houston auto shop.

Strong winds forced them to run for cover and it was caught on video. Surveillance video was taken at Cartronix during the peak of yesterday's storm.

The video shows the manager ordering his employees to close the bay doors as the wind outside begins to pick up. That's when the wind blew one of the doors off. It flew and hit one of the workers. He went to the hospital with a shoulder injury.

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Strong winds may have re-ignited house fire

  HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Firefighters had to make two trips to a house in southeast Houston.

The home on Roper near Edgebrook caught fire late yesterday afternoon. The fire re-ignited around 11pm last night. Emergency crews were able to knock out the fire.

Strong winds are believed to have caused the embers in the attic to reignite. No one was hurt.

(Copyright ©2011 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.) 

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