UPDATE3: Records show that the unit that exploded last weekend at the Dow Chemical plant in Plaquemine has had a history of problems in recent years, including five other accidental releases of highly flammable chemicals and one other fire. David Mitchell has the latest on the explosion, which sent a huge fireball into the night sky, and the federal agency that is now on the scene investigating.
UPDATE: Crews were still working Saturday night to extinguish a fire at the Dow Chemical complex north of Plaquemine, La., after explosions took place there late Friday night, prompting a shelter-in-place order for about 350 households around the site. (NOLA.com 07/15/23) Iberville lifts shelter order after fire, explosions at Dow | News | nola.com
UPDATE2 [eyewitness via Meaww website]: The explosions at the Dow facility in Iberville Parish were so powerful that they shook homes in the nearby state capital, Baton Rouge, according to reports from WAFB TV.
Kenneth Haydel, a local resident and eyewitness of the incident, shared his harrowing experience while in his car, saying, his family had been fishing and the "next thing you know the thing blew up three times back-to-back. We looked up in the sky, and the whole thing was lit up, and we saw all the chemical smoke right up behind it. It was a terrible situation." Haydel added, "We knew that was nothing normal."
ORIGINAL STORY: Iberville (La.) Parish authorities lifted a shelter-in-place order for about 350 homes early July 15 around the Dow Chemical complex north of Plaquemine after a large fire and explosions late Friday night.
The incident occurred in Dow's Gylcol 2 Unit, which makes and handles the potent flammable and explosive chemical, ethylene oxide. It is a human carcinogen, according to state permit records.
Videos circulating on social media show large fires at the plant along the Mississippi River and La. Hwy 1. Some show a large, fiery mushroom cloud billowing from the plant.
Crews battled the fire through the night. As of about 10:50 a.m. Saturday morning, the fire was decreasing in size. Louisiana State Police said no injuries had been reported.
Clint Moore, Iberville homeland security director, said late Friday that Dow officials had been conducting air monitoring throughout the incident and have not detected releases that would pose an offsite impact.
The shelter in place order was in effect through around 3:40 a.m. Saturday as a precaution.
Parish officials said Dow had told the homeland security office that it is safe to lift the shelter-in-place order. "All air monitoring has been non-detect," the parish statement says. (NOLA.com 07/15/23) Iberville lifts shelter order after fire, explosions at Dow | News | nola.com
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