WEST BATON ROUGE PARISH, La. (BRPROUD) – After multiple explosions were reported at the Dow Chemical plant in Plaquemine on July 14, many residents were caught by surprise as the booms rocked homes that were nearby.
Although no damages outside the plant were reported, some residents say it is time to look for a new place to call home.
“All the trailers shook I heard a boom it felt like it felt like something was right here the way it blew,” said resident Jalen Hawkins.
Iberville Parish Sheriff Brett Stassi said the explosions happened in the facility’s glycol (antifreeze) area which caused the fire. He said although no one was hurt, officials took precautions.
“Dow has its own fire team, and they were on sight immediately, deputies were on sight momentarily. We shut down LA-1 both north and south We also had, an abundance of caution ordered a half-mile radius around Dow Chemical,” said Stassi.
Iberville Parish Council Office of Emergency Preparedness issued a half-mile shelter-in-place for residents near the plant. That order was lifted within hours of Dow assuring everything was safe.
Unfortunately, this wasn’t the first incident the Dow Chemical plant had. Last year, there was another fire due to the release of chlorine. Hawkins also remembers that day.
“I was sitting in the house and I’m like somebody’s wasting bleach everywhere then I walked outside you could see the green smoke and everything, that was chlorine coming from there,” said Hawkins.
Dow said the company will keep monitoring air quality, along with the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality and a third-party company.
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