A natural gas pipeline explosion in the Houston area has prompted evacuations and a large response from firefighters to fight the Monday afternoon blaze.

The explosion happened in Deer Park, a city about 18 miles east of Houston. According to reports from local news station ABC13, the fire spread south under Spencer Highway into the borders of the adjacent city of La Porte, Texas.

Video from the area after the explosion showed a massive fireball shooting high into the air, spewing a thick plume of black smoke over the area.

A press release from the City of Deer Park says the pipeline which is still burning is owned by Energy Transfer, a natural gas pipeline operator. The cause of the fire was still under investigation early Monday afternoon.

In a Facebook post from the La Porte Fire Department, officials said first responders were dispatched to the scene at about 9:55 a.m. local time.

Multiple agencies were at the scene early Monday afternoon with the Deer Park and La Porte Offices of Emergency Management responding to the blaze.

Where is the Deer Park fire burning?

Evacuation, shelter in place orders issued

The fire also led authorities to issue evacuation and shelter-in-place orders in adjacent communities.

The San Jacinto College Central Campus has been placed under shelter and evacuation orders have been given for the areas adjacent to the fire. Nearby grocery stores and elementary schools have been placed under these orders as well.

The fire is also happening near a property owned by CenterPoint, a utility company that services the area, in a statement sent to USA TODAY, the company said it is monitoring the situation.

“CenterPoint Energy is monitoring the incident, which is unrelated to the company’s natural gas operations or equipment. We are also cooperating with first responders. Putting safety first, the public should avoid this area until further notice from local emergency officials. When it is safe to do so, our electric crews will go into the area to assess the damage to our transmission and distribution power lines, poles and equipment and begin restoring service to impacted customers as safely and quickly as possible,” the company said.

Energy Transfer also released a statement that said the company is monitoring the blaze.

"The line has been isolated so that the residual product in the line can safely burn itself out. We have no timeline at this point on how long that process will take, but we are working closely with local authorities," the company said. "Air monitoring equipment is in the process of being set up in the area. We will continue to release details as they become available,"

​​Fernando Cervantes Jr. is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach him at [email protected] and follow him on X @fern_cerv_.