The massive Dow Chemical complex near Plaquemine caught fire late Friday night and experienced multiple explosions, forcing residents nearby to shelter in their homes and for La. 1 to be shut down, state and local officials said.
West Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Office spokesman Landon Groger said crews were still battling a fire on the premises as of 11 p.m. Friday, though no chemical leak had been detected.
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Greg Langley, spokesman for the state Department of Environmental Quality, said the facility may have had multiple explosions and it is not clear what type of emissions may be being released.
The agency is sending crews to conduct air monitoring.
“There is a fire. It is still burning, and La. 1 is shut down. That’s all have right now,” Langley said shortly after 10 p.m.
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.
Dow Chemical’s Louisiana Operations complex north of Plaquemine in Iberville and West Baton Rouge parishes. The aerial image was taken on Thursday, March 28, 2019, during a NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune flight up the Mississippi River photographing industry courtesy of a nonprofit conservation organization called Southwings.
The fire comes about a year after a large chlorine leak at Dow’s neighbor, Olin, 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.
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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 relation to prevailing winds 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.
Shortly before 9:50 p.m. Friday, the Iberville Office of Emergency Preparedness advised residents to stay indoors and turn off air conditioning and ceiling fans due to the emergency at Dow.
The shelter-in-place order extends in a half-mile radius around the Dow plant near Plaquemine, parish officials said in a Facebook post.
Christian Reed, State Police Troop A spokesman, said La. 1 between Sid Richardson and Bayou Jacob roads has been closed.
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, parish officals 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.
This is a developing story.
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