RE:Louisiana petroleum refinery fire and chemical leak forces e A fire at a petroleum refinery in Louisiana triggered evacuations for a few hours Friday and caused a large smoke plume, authorities said.
The fire began before 7 a.m. Central time after a petroleum product called naphtha leaked from a storage tank at the Marathon Petroleum refinery in Garyville.
People within a two-mile radius of the refinery were ordered to evacuate, St. John the Baptist Parish President Jaclyn Hotard announced at a news briefing Friday morning. She also issued an emergency declaration.
Hotard said that the evacuations were a precaution, but she acknowledged that the fire was “alarming.”
On Friday afternoon, the company said the fire had been contained and Hotard lifted the evacuation order.
Naphtha is used to make gasoline, and exposure to it can cause respiratory problems. No injuries were immediately reported, and local officials said air monitoring in the surrounding area has logged clean readings.
Refinery representatives said all “impacts” were contained to their site, but local officials said the plume was moving west. They urged anyone within five miles of the plant to stay indoors.
Two schools were evacuated, the superintendent said. Emergency shelters were opened at two high schools. Garyville, about 30 miles northwest of central New Orleans, has a population of 2,100, according to the 2020 Census.
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The parish is in an 80-mile stretch of Louisiana nicknamed “Cancer Alley,” where many chemical plants and oil refineries sit along the Mississippi River and residents have reported cancer and other health problems for decades.
In St. John the Baptist Parish, local officials have carried out emergency drills with Marathon for “just about any incident,” Hotard said. Company spokesman Justin Lawrence said he did not know how many fires had occurred at the refinery in the past 10 years.
The cause of Friday’s incident was unknown, according to Marathon. The storage tank was leaking, Lawrence said, and the leaked naphtha ignited outside the tank. Lawrence could not say what quantity of naphtha was involved.
He said the fire initially was “a lazy flame” that reignited and became harder to control. Local firefighters were at the scene. The Louisiana State Police emergency services unit was also assisting, said Sgt. Katharine Stegall.
“We’re doing everything possible to get the fire out,” Lawrence said.
In a statement, Marathon Petroleum said that its personnel and local emergency teams were responding to the release and fire and that no “off-site impacts have been detected.”