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Information Added: Thursday, October 5, 2000 - 2:06 PM
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The fire leveled Monticello Wood Floors and took 75 firefighters four hours to extinguish. It sent up clouds of acrid smoke and forced the closure of three schools and the evacuation of the nearby neighborhood.

Clouds of stinging, yellow smoke forced officials to evacuate everybody within half-a-mile of the site. A middle school and two elementary schools were closed for the day, keeping 1,400 students at home.

Police weren't able to immediately say how many people were evacuated.

The fire was burning so hot that steam was rising off the sides of buildings belonging to an oil company. Firefighters doused smaller buildings with water to keep the fire from spreading.

Haz mat experts and representatives from the state Department of Environmental Conservation took air samples and checked runoff water for contamination and toxins.