‘Unthinkable:’ Two workers die, others injured in Louisville industrial explosion

Jody Meiman, the director of Emergency Management Services in Louisville, said his team received about 300 calls in a 30-minute window around the deadly explosion. (Screenshot)

LOUISVILLE — Louisville firefighters pulled a victim from the rubble of an industrial explosion overnight Wednesday, right after midnight.

Another died at UofL Hospital after being injured in the afternoon explosion at Givaudan Sense Colour , a manufacturing plant on Payne Street in Louisville's Clifton neighborhood.

"These two individuals who have passed went to their job (on) an ordinary day to provide for their family when the unthinkable happened," Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg said in a Wednesday morning press conference

In addition to the two dead, 11 were injured. Dr. Jason Smith, the chief medical officer at UofL Hospital, said injuries his team saw included blast and thermal injuries as well as injuries from falling debris. Three patients were discharged Wednesday morning, Smith said.

"We took additional steps for (the) decontamination process, given the scene and the chemicals involved and the unknown nature of what was coming in," Smith said. "All the patients did undergo decontamination procedures prior to coming into the hospital, and subsequently have demonstrated no significant effects from any type of exposure at the time of this morning when we re-evaluated them."

While crews work the scene, Greenberg said, people who live near the plant shouldn't touch or attempt to remove any debris on their property. Instead, he said, call and report it to Metro Safe at 502-574-2117.

"Getting a handle on all of the debris is going to be incredibly helpful to all of the investigators as they piece together what happened yesterday," Greenberg said.

WHAS11 the plant is known for producing caramel color in soft drinks.

Louisville Fire Department Chief Brian O'Neill praised the firefighters who searched the rubble until everyone was accounted for, pulling out the last known victim in the night.

"There was a tremendous trauma to this victim, and it was completely untenable in the area that he was found," O'Neill said. "But ... to show the dignity to the family and to the victim, they still went in there to a very ... dangerous situation in the middle of this collapse to recover that victim."

What is known about the explosion O'Neill said "multiple" 911 calls came in around 3 p.m. Tuesday about the explosion. Jody Meiman, the director of Emergency Management Services, said his team received about 300 calls in a 30-minute window around the explosion, triple the normal amount.

Firefighting crews were on the scene within "about three and a half minutes" and "found an area that had obviously dealt with a tremendous explosion."

"We knew right away that we were dealing not only with a fire, but also a structural collapse, and also a hazardous materials incident," said O'Neill. "These are three disciplines that we all train in, so they were prepared to handle that. But you need to understand that it makes things extraordinarily difficult."

In addition to injuries, Meiman said, there were "massive" power outages and that power was restored by Wednesday morning, with the exception of the explosion site itself.

First responders issued a shelter-in-place alert for people within a mile of the explosion, and evacuated those within a block and a half.

The evacuations were "mainly because they couldn't shelter in place because their windows were broken out due to the explosion," Meiman said.

The Tuesday explosion is the second at the site. The first was in 2003 but Tuesday's blast is not related to the earlier one. "That dealt with a solid anhydrous ammonia that is no longer on site, that was not dealt with here," O'Neill said. "Our inspections of that plant over the past several years showed no other issues."

What is not known about the explosion First responder officials don't yet know the cause of the explosion. Multiple agencies will coordinate an investigation to get at that question, they said Wednesday.

Shawn Morrow, the Special Agent in Charge (SAC) of the Louisville Field Division for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) said ATF officials will serve in a support role during the investigation, which will work to uncover the cause of the explosion.

"We don't have any reason to believe, at this moment, that there's any type of nefarious activity," Morrow said. "But, again, we want to make sure that we have a thorough investigation and we'll find out what the actual cause was."