China defends fire fighters who hosed water on blaze in warehouse storing volatile chemicals, which foreign experts say could have contributed to two huge blasts TIANJIN — China on Friday defended fire fighters who initially hosed water on a blaze in a warehouse storing volatile chemicals, a response foreign experts said could have contributed to two huge blasts that killed 54 people.More than a dozen firefighters were among those killed by the explosions at the port in the northeastern city of Tianjin on Wednesday night, state media said.About 700 people were injured, 71 of them seriously, yet another accident in a nation all too familiar with industrial disasters.Columns of smoke from fires still burning on Friday rose from the site amid crumpled shipping containers, thousands of torched cars and burnt-out shells of port buildings.Rescuers pulled one survivor from the wreckage, a city official told reporters, who was later identified as a fire fighter.The warehouse, designed to ho...
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