LOUISVILLE, Kentucky — Emergency management crews cleaned up damage Wednesday after a chemical plant explosion left two people dead and several others injured.
The blast occurred Tuesday afternoon at the Givaudan Sense Colour facility in Louisville’s Clifton neighborhood. While several nearby homes and businesses were damaged, Louisville Fire Chief Brian O’Neill confirmed investigators have not yet found any evidence that hazardous chemicals were released.
Mayor Craig Greenberg said a dozen people were taken to a hospital, including one person who died. A second person who died was found in the building just after midnight.At a news conference Wednesday morning, Greenberg held a moment of silence for the two people who were killed. Neither person had been publicly identified out of respect for their families.
Stefanie Lauber, head of corporate communications for Givaudan Sense Colour, told The Courier Journal, part of the USA TODAY Network, that the two people killed were employees. Lauber said the company is “deeply saddened” by what happened.
There is no immediate threat to the surrounding community, she added, and Givaudan is investigating and cooperating with authorities.”This is incredibly sad and tragic incident,” Greenberg said at the news conference. “These two individuals who have passed went to their job on an ordinary day to provide for their family when the unthinkable happened.”
What happened at the plant explosion?
The explosion occurred shortly after 3 p.m. local time on Tuesday and could be heard miles away. Firefighters were on the scene about three minutes later, O’Neill said Wednesday.
Louisville Metro Emergency Services Executive Director Jody Meiman said about 300 calls to 911 were received in the aftermath, roughly triple the amount the city would receive in that time on a normal day. A shelter-in-place order in a one-mile radius was in effect for about an hour after the blast but was then lifted.”
This was a business that is known to us,” O’Neill said. “Our companies do a very good job of inspecting their first-alarm area. They know what’s out there. So we knew right away that we were dealing not only with a fire, but also a structural collapse and also a hazardous materials incident.”Still, he said, responding to such a scene after an explosion is “extraordinarily difficult.” Firefighters helped evacuate several people onsite, including one victim partially buried. The cause of the blast has not yet been identified, he said, but should be determined during the investigation.
