HORNICK, IA -
No one is hurt but a fertilizer building is a total loss after a fire in Hornick, Iowa Tuesday afternoon.
If you were near Hornick at the time you might have found it hard to breathe, because the smoke was so thick.
The fire started at about 3:00 Tuesday afternoon at a fertilizer building at the Western Iowa Co-op.
At first firefighters were worried the flames would cause an explosion.
One neighbor who were there said the smoke was so thick, it was hard to know what to do.
"You could see orange flames and just black smoke and you could just hear the snapping and popping, which is scary part because you can't see," said Stacy Payne. "And I couldn't see my house so I didn't know what was going on with my house next door."
Even after the fire was out at about 4:30 that afternoon the wind was blowing smoke right into the middle of town.
"There was a lot of smoke to begin with, the entire city of Hornick was blanketed with smoke," said Greg Logan, Chief Deputy with the Woodbury County Sheriff's Office. "The fire Chief suggested a precautionary evacuation on the part of the citizens that lived in the area."
At about 6:30 Tuesday night the 185 Air Refueling Wing brought in a foam truck to try and cut down on the smoke.
No homes were caught in the fire, but some might have smoke damage.
The Chief Deputy said everyone who evacuated could head back once the smoke dies down.
There's no word yet on what caused the fire.
