© AP Photo/Michael ConroyFirefighters walk out of the site of an industrial fire in Richmond, Ind., Wednesday, April 12, 2023. Authorities urged people to evacuate if they live near the fire. The former factory site was used to store plastics and other materials for recycling or resale.
An evacuation order affecting more than 1,000 people remained in place Wednesday night around a large
industrial fire in an Indiana city near the Ohio border where crews worked to douse piles of burning plastics.
Multiple fires that began burning Tuesday afternoon were still burning within about 14 acres of various types of plastics stored inside and outside buildings at a former factory site in Richmond, 70 miles (113 kilometers) east of Indianapolis, Fire Chief Tim Brown said.
He said the fire was contained but not under control. Brown said his goal was to finish dousing flames by Saturday morning but "that's a guess."
"We are attempting to put the fire out. We are not letting it burn. Evidently there's some misinformation out there that we're letting it burn," he said.
Between 1,500 and 2,000 people who live within a half-mile (0.8 kilometer) of the plant were told to leave after the fire began, said David Hosick, spokesperson for the Indiana Department of Homeland Security.
The evacuation order remained in place Wednesday night. People outside the half-mile radius who live downwind of the fire were advised to keep windows closed and pets inside.
Brown said
the fire's cause remained under investigation and the only injury had been a firefighter who suffered a minor ankle injury overnight Tuesday.
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