Fred Harteis News Articles - North Carolina chemical plant fire evacuees going home

Fred Harteis News Articles - Most residents who left their homes to escape the fumes from a fire at a hazardous materials plant began returning Saturday, two nights after officials urged 17,000 people to evacuate.

The blaze at Environmental Quality Industrial Services died down just after midnight, Apex Fire Chief Mark Haraway said. About 90 percent of the evacuees were allowed to return at 9 a.m.

"We've been given every assurance that it's safe for our citizens to go back home," Mayor Keith Weatherly said.

Those who live in the area immediately surrounding what's left of EQ Industrial Services had to wait for the environmental testing results, expected later Saturday.

Firefighters used heavy machinery to pull away the twisted metal that had been guarding the heart of the smoldering fire, fed by industrial wastes including paints, solvents, pesticides and weed killer.

The fire released a plume of thick black smoke and a yellow cloud of gas after it started late Thursday with a series of thundering explosions that lit up the night sky.

Firefighters mostly let the fire burn until it ran out of fuel.

"It's the best thing for the environment and the best thing for the community," Haraway said.

Worried officials had closed downtown Apex, canceled school on Friday and urged more than 17,000 people to leave their homes, but it wasn't known how many complied.

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http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/10/07/plant.fire.ap/index.html?section=cnn_topstories

Source: Cnn.com

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