Chemical Plant Blasts and Fire Injure Four

A series of explosions rocked a chemical plant in Fort Worth and set off a raging fire, injuring four people and sending up black smoke that could be seen 30 miles away.

The cause of the explosions was not immediately known. Workers at the Valley Solvents & Chemicals plant told authorities they heard an explosion and noticed a fire near a tractor-trailer that had pulled in to deliver chemicals, fire Lt. Kent Worley said.

The blaze raged in and around more than a dozen large metal and plastic tanks containing 2,000 to 4,000 gallons of methanol, sulfuric acid, hydrochloric acid, ethanol and other chemicals.