The Region : 200 Kept From Homes

More than 200 of the people evacuated Sunday after a toxic fire broke out at a Newport Beach metal-finishing plant will be kept from their homes for at least another 24 hours, public safety officials said. Newport Beach Police Officer Kent Stoddard said clean-up crews were expected to finish swabbing up the spilled toxic chemicals at the Hixson Metal Finishing plant on Production Place by midnight Tuesday. But two nearby private schools, Carden Hall and Newport Beach Christian High, will be closed today as a precaution. Crews waited until 3:30 p.m. Tuesday for the schools to close and the children to leave the area before they began pumping 2,000 to 4,000 gallons of spilled chemicals and run-off water into tankers for disposal. Cause of the fire has not been determined.