Fire broke out at a facility that handles hazardous materials at the U.S. Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, Japan. - Screencapture Via Nippon TV

Fire broke out at a facility that handles hazardous materials at the U.S. Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, Japan.

Screencapture Via Nippon TV

About 45 people were treated for exposure to a combination of smoke and chlorine gas after a fire broke out Monday in a storage building for hazardous materials at Kadena Air Base on Okinawa, the military reports.

Most of those people have returned to duty, the U.S. Air Force reports.

Thick gray plumes of smoke rose from a storage facility designated as the 18th wing Hazardous Materials Pharmacy. The fire was extinguished after several hours.

Kadena is the largest U.S. air base in the Far East.

Emergency personnel continue to monitor the site for any environmental impact. In April, more than 140 tons of firefighting foam containing environmentally persistent perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances known as PFOA and PFOS leaked from Marine Air Station Futenma, also on Okinawa.

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