diff --git a/wetb/hawc2/htc_contents.py b/wetb/hawc2/htc_contents.py
index 821748aa03a1c92406cc5e261a12972e68c10b68..bc6bba5e0cea3e2419feae926e4651e697cfe2e5 100644
--- a/wetb/hawc2/htc_contents.py
+++ b/wetb/hawc2/htc_contents.py
@@ -163,6 +163,8 @@ class HTCLine(HTCContents):
         return str(self)
 
     def __str__(self, level=0):
+        if self.name_ == "":
+            return ""
         return "%s%s%s;%s\n" % ("  "*(level), self.name_,
                                   ("", "\t" + self.str_values())[bool(self.values)],
                                   ("", "\t" + self.comments)[bool(self.comments.strip())])
@@ -191,6 +193,11 @@ class HTCLine(HTCContents):
         values = [fmt(v) for v in values]
         return HTCLine(name, values, end_comments)
 
+    def remove(self):
+        self.name_ = ""
+        self.values = []
+        self.comments = ""
+
 
 class HTCOutputSection(HTCSection):
     sensors = None
diff --git a/wetb/hawc2/htc_file.py b/wetb/hawc2/htc_file.py
index 5efd49c3323b74fb093ce8de63248b2bedda81a8..2406ac54da2bfeeaceca48bc7db06cedd4ed2dbd 100644
--- a/wetb/hawc2/htc_file.py
+++ b/wetb/hawc2/htc_file.py
@@ -66,7 +66,11 @@ class HTCFile(HTCContents, HTCDefaults):
             if l.lower().lstrip().startswith('continue_in_file'):
                 filename = l.lstrip().split(";")[0][len("continue_in_file"):].strip()
                 filename = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(self.filename), self.modelpath, filename)
-                htc_lines.extend(self.readlines(filename))
+
+                for line in self.readlines(filename):
+                    if line.lstrip().lower().startswith('exit'):
+                        break
+                    htc_lines.append(line)
             else:
                 htc_lines.append(l)
         return htc_lines
diff --git a/wetb/hawc2/tests/test_htc_file.py b/wetb/hawc2/tests/test_htc_file.py
index 6429b14c251510eed0decb7385093a4a3df4caeb..51da8f5cc7b3aa8e9f5b164f0383b58b3a5ef8d4 100644
--- a/wetb/hawc2/tests/test_htc_file.py
+++ b/wetb/hawc2/tests/test_htc_file.py
@@ -205,6 +205,8 @@ class TestHtcFile(unittest.TestCase):
         self.assertIn('main_body__31', htcfile.new_htc_structure.keys())
         self.assertIn(os.path.abspath(self.testfilepath + 'orientation.dat'), [os.path.abspath(f) for f in htcfile.input_files()])
         self.assertIn('./data/NREL_5MW_st1.txt', htcfile.input_files())
+        self.assertEqual(str(htcfile).count("exit"), 1)
+        self.assertIn('filename\t./res/oc4_p2_Load_case_eq;', str(htcfile))
 
     def test_tjul_example(self):
         htcfile = HTCFile(self.testfilepath + "./tjul.htc", ".")