China defends initial response to chemical fires after port blasts

By Adam Rose and Megha Rajagopalan TIANJIN, China (Reuters) - China defended on Friday 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. Rescuers pulled one survivor from the wreckage, a city official told reporters, who was later identified as a fire fighter.