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RICHMOND, Ind. (AP) -- An evacuation order for people living near an extraordinary plastics fire in Indiana stretched into a fourth night Friday as officials acknowledged "our community is exhausted," longing to return home and anxious about possible adverse health effects.
Richmond Fire Chief Tim Brown said the fire was declared under control Thursday night. But crews would be on duty all weekend to extinguish any hot spots at the 14-acre (5-hectare) former factory site.
Mayor Dave Snow said experts would meet Saturday to discuss air quality and other environmental issues related to the fire, all needed before lifting an evacuation order for a half-mile radius of the blaze.
"I know our community is exhausted from this emergency," said Christine Stinson, director of the Wayne County health department.
At least 1,500 people live in the evacuation zone, though it's not known how many residents actually obeyed the call to get out when the fire began Tuesday afternoon in Richmond, about 70 miles east of Indianapolis, near the Ohio border.
The cause was not known. But the fire quickly became an inferno, destroying six run-down buildings where tons of recycled plastic were stored for resale and creating clouds of smoke so high and dark that they cast a sprawling shadow over the city of 35,000 people.
A man who was operating the storage site, Seth Smith, has not talked publicly about the blaze, and his lawyer, Ron Moore, has declined comment. The Associated Press could not reach Smith through phone listings.
Smith was under a 2020 court order to clean up the site, which had no utilities and had been declared a serious fire hazard by inspectors.