Recycling plant hit by 4-alarm fire

Residents in Rochester, Carver, and Middleborough were told to stay inside and keep windows and doors closed last night after a massive blaze swept through a nearby solid waste recycling plant.

Peter Judge, spokesman for the state's Emergency Management Association, said officials called residents, urging them to stay indoors until they knew more about any potential toxic effects.

"We are not sure if the smoke is toxic, so this is just a precaution," Judge said.

State and local officials were on the scene late last night, Judge said, as well as firefighters from at least six towns.

The four-alarm fire broke out at the SEMASS recycling plant on Cranberry Highway, shortly after 7 p.m. According to television reports, some workers were forced to evacuate the property, but there were no reports of injuries.

"It was kind of like a little explosion," Richard Adams, who works at the plant, told Fox-TV. "There was a propane tank that probably went through the shredder and started to engulf into flames."

Globe correspondent Erin Conroy contributed to this report.