HOUSTON – The Houston Fire Department spent Saturday afternoon battling a two-alarm warehouse fire at Brittmore near the Beltway and I-10 West in Houston.

The warehouse is a paper recycling facility, making it difficult for them to put out. The fire began early in the afternoon, but it was hours before it was under control. As of 4:30, it still was not completely extinguished.

Firefighters are fighting the fire using ladders and hoses suspended in the air in an effort to put out the mountains of paper that were burning.

"It's like fighting a big trash fire. These things are bound together real tight and it creates a lot of heat," said Jack Williamson, Assistant Fire Chief. "It’s difficult to put out, because even though you extinguish the fire on the outside, the inside is like a bale and it holds a lot of heat."

The smoke attracted on lookers by the dozen.

Photo courtesy of Cari Moore, 11 News Viewer

"I passed by the Beltway 8. We stopped and started checking out the fire," said George Florez.

Joe Foster also saw the plume of smoke from his home which is on FM 1960 and Champions.

"The fire lasted so long, I could make it in 25 minutes," said Foster.

It was still burning when he arrived, but as firefighters got a hold of it, the black cloud slowly turned to white.