Texas chemical plant fire forces evacuation of elementary school, college(CNN) -- Fire broke out at a chemical plant in Waxahachie, Texas, on Monday, sending a thick column of black smoke high into the sky and forcing the evacuation of an eight-block radius around the plant.
"Everybody is out and safe," Donald Golden, environmental health and safety manager for Magnablend Inc., the plant's owner, said of employees and visitors to the plant.
There was no immediate word on the cause on the fire, which began at around 10:30 a.m., Golden said.
Officials ordered the evacuation of a school, apartment building and other industrial sites within an eight-block radius of the plant, said Diana Buckley, an official with Ellis County government. A shelter-in-place advisory is in effect for some smaller nearby towns northwest of the city, including Red Oak, she said.
The plant stores and mixes numerous chemicals, said Amy Hollywood, a city spokeswoman.
Images transmitted by CNN affiliates KTVT and WFAA showed orange flames devouring buildings and licking at tanker cars parked at the edge of the Magnablend plant, which is about 30 miles south of Dallas.
Firefighters had pulled back and were using ladder trucks to spray water on the fire, Hollywood said.
Multiple fire departments were on the scene. One of the them, the Midlothian Fire Department, reported that chemicals had been released in the fire, but no additional details were immediately available.
The nearby Wedgeworth Elementary School was evacuated, a school district official confirmed. Students were being taken to a school across town, school officials said.
Navarro College's Waxahachie campus also evacuated, a receptionist confirmed. Southwestern Assemblies of God University, which is on the other side of town from the chemical plant, was keeping people inside but had not evacuated, spokeswoman Christina Freeze said.
Magnablend produces custom chemicals for a variety of industries, including oil, agriculture, pet and animal feed, water treatment, construction and industrial cleaning companies, according to its website.
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality dispatched inspectors to measure air quality in the area, the agency said.
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/10/03/us/texas-chemical-fire/index.html#
