The major fire that broke out Wednesday afternoon at a chemical company in the Dutch town of Moerdijk has been brought under control, local authority said.

Chemical fire in the Netherlands 'under control'??

The fire with flames of sometimes forty meters high caused heavy explosions and a cloud of toxic substances moving towards the city of Dordrecht and other parts of the province of Zuid- Holland, in which the highest alert was promulgated.

"The fire is under control now, but we can not say we have overpowered the fire yet", fire brigade commander Gert-Jan Verhoeven told a press conference. "We will use a complete foam blanket to achieve that in a couple of hours."

People in several municipalities around Moerdijk, which is situated in the province of Noord-Brabant, are warned to keep their windows closed. Cattle in the direct environment was evacuated. Due to fortunate atmospheric circumstances the cloud rose to great heights and no high concentrations of chemicals were measured yet on the ground. Despite that fact the police received several reports from people about a toxic smell.

Employees of the company Chemie-Pack reported that 400,000 liters of heavy carcinogenic chemical material was stored in the sheds. The company has been since 1982 situated in the industrial area of Moerdijk and has a staff of around fifty people. It processes and packs chemical products for the chemical industry, the rubber industry and the paint industry throughout the world. No staff was hurt when the fire started inside the factory.

Nothing is yet known about the cause of the fire that started around 02:30 p.m. local time. The fire brigade, the police and other emergency services were fighting the dangerous situation in a massive combined effort. Around six o'clock heavy explosions could be seen when storage tanks with chemical substances were hit by the fire. At 09:00 p.m. the fire brigade seemed to control the fire, but then the fire started to widen even more to other pilots and a neighboring business.

Mayor Wim Denie of Moerdijk said covering the fire with the foam blanket will be necessary to extinguish the fire and prevent it from moving to a neighboring waste processing terminal. "The smoke will lead to odor and could cause irritation in people's eyes, lungs and skin. We stringently advise people to stay inside and keep their windows closed." The fire will not be overpowered before midnight.