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Evacuation order lifted near biofuel fire
Updated: 05/27/2014 4:56 PM | Created: 05/27/2014 12:02 PM
By: Juan Carlos Llorca, The Associated Press
ANTHONY, N.M. (AP) — A New Mexico biofuel facility caught fire Tuesday,
sending a giant column of black smoke into the air and prompting
authorities to briefly evacuate an area that includes about 350 homes.
A series of small explosions was reported at the Rio Valley Biofuels
plant near the town of Anthony, but there was no immediate word of any
injuries, Dona Ana County spokesman Jess Williams said. Operations
manager Jed Smith said he believed all five employees who work at the
plant were OK.
County officials activated their emergency operations center and
declared a hazardous materials emergency, Williams said. The immediate
area was evacuated, but residents were allowed back in to their homes by
early afternoon.
Anthony is on the New Mexico-Texas line between Las Cruces, New Mexico,
and El Paso, Texas.
Witnesses described hearing loud explosions and seeing large flames as
fire trucks and emergency responders rushed to the scene.
"We heard a few explosions, then a really loud one," witness Miguel
Favela said. "You could hear the fire burning."
The fire was first reported shortly after 9 a.m. A Rio Valley Biofuels
manager said about 2½ hours later that it was "basically out —
smoldering." Crews were still dousing the site with flames several hours
after the accident.
Williams and Smith both said the cause of the fire was not yet known.
The half-mile area around the plant was evacuated because of the threat
of blasts from the methanol on the premises, authorities said. Other
chemicals on site include vegetable oil, hydrochloric acid and
bio-diesel fuel.
According to Rio Valley Biofuels' website, the company began
commercially producing bio-diesel fuel from recycled oil from local food
processors in 2006. The company said it gets oil from sources that
include vegetable oil, crude cottonseed, sunflower, soy, palm and canola.
The plant produces between 3,000 and 6,000 gallons a day, the company
website says.
County hazardous-materials specialists plan to inspect the site further
to determine what chemicals may have been affected or released in the fire.
Fire crews from several agencies responded to the biofuel facility,
along with sheriff's deputies and New Mexico State Police.
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