Crews Contain Fire At Texas Fertilizer Warehouse

[May 30, 2014]  (Reuters) - A fire ripped through a Texas fertilizer warehouse on Thursday, destroying the facility but causing no explosions or injuries, police said.

The blaze broke out around 5:45 p.m. CDT in the town of Athens, about 75 miles southeast of Dallas, and was brought under control about three hours later, a police dispatcher said.

Fire crews were letting the remaining fire burn out, the dispatcher said.

Athens authorities evacuated a five-block radius around the warehouse, which rests just off the town's main square.

The facility is a processing area for East Texas AG Service, town officials said, and the warehouse handles ammonium nitrate fertilizer which can be combustible when heated.

Last year, ammonium nitrate stored at a West Texas, fertilizer plant detonated, causing an explosion that killed 14 people and injured around 200.

(Reporting by Victoria Cavaliere; Editing by Leslie Adler and Simon Cameron-Moore)

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