A fire broke out at Columbus Chemical Industries on Temkin Road shortly after 8 p.m. Monday, causing the evacuation of several hundred city residents and frustrating firefighters' attempts to control it.

According to Columbus Emergency Management Director Gerald Sallmann, an automated alarm in the plant notified 911 of a fire at 8:04 p.m.

Firefighters arrived on the scene within minutes. There were a series of explosions and two firefighters received minor injuries. The firefighters were in stable condition Monday night at Columbus Community Hospital.

Sallmann said at that point fire personnel retreated from the scene due to the risk of explosion.

Jim Neuman, who has lived a block from the site since 1991, said he smelled burning plastic around 7:30 p.m. and not long after heard four big explosions. After the arrival of the first fire trucks he heard four more explosions.

"The fire trucks had just arrived and then they had an explosion. There was some force there," he said, adding that he saw a door or drum fly in the air in one of the explosions.

John Edwards, who has lived near the plant for 30 years and has worked part time there for six weeks, said "There's lots of different types of acid, lots of flammable stuff." Everything seemed normal when he left work around 4 p.m. The explosions "sounded like thunder, a long clap of thunder," he said.

Residents within a half-mile of the plant were evacuated as emergency personnel went door-to-door in the northern part of Columbus. Evacuation was not mandatory, but Sallmann said nearly everyone alerted left the area. Those who did not leave were told to be sure all windows and doors were tightly closed and to shut off their furnaces.

An emergency shelter was set up at the Columbus Senior Center and everyone evacuating was asked to register there. By 11:30 p.m. about 30 people had registered with the Red Cross at the senior center.

Linda Breuckman of the Red Cross said many of the people who evacuated went to motels in either Columbus or Beaver Dam or to private homes. She said that more details would be coming from the Red Cross, and that a church in the city might be opened for any who need shelter.

Dodge County used the Code Red emergency notification system to call residents in the Columbus and Beaver Dam areas and tell them to stay indoors and keep their windows closed due to smoke from the fire. The National Guard Civil Support Team was at the scene and was conducting a chemical analysis of the air quality.

Sallmann said that the fire was difficult to fight as some of the chemicals in the building react to water.

According to the company Web site, Columbus Chemical Industries manufactures high purity acids and salts, analytical and production solutions for a wide variety of industries.

In total, 11 fire departments responded to the scene, along with the Dodge and Columbia County Sheriffs Departments, the Wisconsin National Guard Civil Support Team, the Wisconsin State Patrol, Wisconsin Emergency Management, the Columbus Police Department, Heartline Medix, the Waterloo Fire Department ambulance, the Department of Natural Resources and the Dodge County and Madison HazMat teams.

Barry Adams and the Wisconsin State Journal contributed to this story.