1 Dead and 73 Injured in Tragic Blast at Chemical Plant in Louisiana
A chemical plant explosion and its aftermath in Louisiana
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Late on Friday night, a massive fire broke out at the Dow Chemical complex near Plaquemine, resulting in multiple explosions. As a result, approximately 350 households in the vicinity were instructed to take shelter indoors, and La. 1 had to be closed down.
According to state and local officials, the fire was still being fought by emergency crews at 11 p. m. on Friday. Fortunately, there were no reports of any chemical leaks from the facility located along the Mississippi River.
The incident occurred in Dow's glycol 2 Unit, which makes and handles the potent flammable and explosive chemical, ethylene oxide, parish officials said. It is a human carcinogen with years of exposure, federal authorities say.
But Clint Moore, Iberville homeland security director, said Dow officials have been conducting air monitoring throughout the incident and have not detected releases that would pose on offsite impact. Dow's monitors are inside the complex and on its perimeter.
To ensure the safety of the community, Clint Moore, the Iberville homeland security director, mentioned that Dow has requested a third-party contractor to install air monitors in the surrounding area as a precautionary measure. Additionally, the state Department of Environmental Quality will be sending their own teams to conduct air monitoring.
Greg Langley, the spokesperson for the state Department of Environmental Quality, stated that at the moment, there is an ongoing fire and La. 1 has been closed down. However, further details are currently unavailable.
According to Greg Langley, by 11:40 p. m. , crews from the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) were preparing to commence air monitoring. At that time, firefighters were still actively extinguishing the fire.
Langley mentioned that the prevailing winds were blowing in a direction that pushed the smoke back into the plant and towards the river.
Shortly before 9:50 p. m. on Friday, the Iberville Office of Emergency Preparedness issued a warning to residents, advising them to remain indoors and to turn off air conditioning and ceiling fans as a precautionary measure due to the emergency situation at Dow.
In a Facebook post, parish officials stated that the shelter-in-place order has been implemented within a half-mile radius around the Dow plant. This precautionary measure is in place until authorities can confirm that there is no risk to the public, according to Moore, the homeland security official.
Christian Reed, the spokesperson for State Police Troop A, reported that a section of La. 1, specifically between Sid Richardson and Bayou Jacob roads, has been closed.
Dow's emergency operations center was managing the fire late Friday, company officials said on Facebook, and the company is working with local officials
"All people are accounted for," the company added in the statement. A Dow spokeswoman didn't immediately return an email for comment late Friday.
Videos circulating on social media show large fires at the chemical plant. Some show a large, fiery mushroom cloud bilowing from the Dow.
The fire comes about a year after a large leak of dangerous chlorine at Dow's neighbor, Olin Chemical, which is inside the 1,500-acre complex north of Plaquemine.
DEQ and parish officials said later that the extent of the leak, which sent of huge plume of gas into the sky in April 2022, appeared to be underreported by Olin and Dow.
That leak sent 39 people to area hospitals with mostly mild symptoms, and DEQ inspectors later raised questions about the efficacy of the placement of Dow air monitors in the community near the plant and on its perimeter in relation to prevailing winds at the time and the gas plume.
Chlorine gas, water and possibly other chemicals rise from a leak at the Blue Cube LLC complex the night of Monday, April 18, 2022, inside the Dow Chemical operation in Plaquemine. Residents near the leak were order to remain indoors for three hours but Iberville Parish officials alleged the operator, Olin Chemical subsidiary Blue Cube, understated the extent of the gas release and the shelter order should have lasted more than a day longer.
The fire on Friday isn't the first time the Glycol 2 Unit at Dow has encountered significant problems. In November 2019, a tank in the unit ruptured on a Sunday morning after a large power outage, sending a white steam cloud into the air and causing a large shock wave that rensonated in homes as far away as Zachary across the river.
The unit makes ethylene oxide, a sterilizing agent that is also used in anti-freeze and many other applications, but that federal authorities have said is far more dangerous to human health than previously understood.
The unit also makes derivative chemicals and had been expanding last year to add a new production line to make polyethylene glycol, state permit records say.
Ethylene oxide is a human carcinogen due to years of exposure but, in acute short-term exposure, it can cause headaches, dizziness, nausea, fatigue, respiratory problems and even vomiting, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says.
At 9:53 p.m. Friday, officials with DEQ hadn't been notified about any incident at Dow Chemical but were investigating. DEQ officials had a report of the incident minutes later.
By then, though, parish officials had already notified the public near the facility.
The Dow site straddles Iberville and West Baton Rouge parishes. Located along a bend in the Mississippi River, Dow is one of Louisiana's largest petrochemical facilities, with more than 3,000 company and contract employees and 12 production units.
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