Around 8:30 Thursday night lightning struck a fiberglass tank at Sivance Chemical Company holding hydrochloric acid that quickly caught fire.
The acid was heavily diluted and the tank was only about 50 percent full.
Nine Gainesville Fire Rescue units and about 30 firefighters worked to put out the flames before neighboring tanks, holding much more explosive chemicals could ignite.
Before GFR arrived, Sivance's emergency response team doused the tank with foam and water.
It took firefighters about 30 minutes to get the five thousand gallon tank out.
The tank is completely destroyed, but there was no acid leak and no one was hurt.