A fire on Tuesday morning at a chemical plant in the Lake Charles area that had previously burned following 2020's Hurricane Laura led to a shelter-in-place order within a half mile of the facility for several hours, according to the company and the Calcasieu Parish Police Jury.
The fire occurred at the BioLab plant in Westlake, which manufactures chlorine products for swimming pools, shutting down a 10-mile stretch of Interstate 10 for just over an hour because of smoke. The fire was contained at about 11:20 a.m, according to the police jury.
"BioLab is actively investigating the origin of smoke emanating from our Lake Charles facility. All of our employees are accounted for with no injuries reported," the company said in a statement. The company did not provide information on what caused the smoke, or whether chlorine or other toxic chemicals were released.
At 1:50 p.m., it issued an update saying that the plant was expected to safely resume operations soon, after the incident was "fully contained."
Shelter-in-place area, in yellow, south of the Biolab chlorine products manufacturing plant, which reported a possible warehouse fire on Tuesday, July 2, 2024. (Calcasieu Parish Police Jury)
The Calcasieu Parish Sheriff's Office and Police Jury said the precautionary shelter-in-place for an area south of Interstate 10 and west of Lake Charles was issued because of a warehouse fire at the plant. Louisiana State Police officials said the Golden Nugget and L'Auberge du Lac casinos observed the shelter-in-place.
The state Department of Environmental Quality said Tuesday morning that air monitors at the plant were "non-detect" for chlorine, "indicating that chlorine levels are within safe limits." The agency was monitoring air quality at several locations in the area and a team was also mobilizing to conduct air monitoring along Interstate 210.
Guidelines for the shelter-in-place order include going inside, shutting doors and windows, turning off air conditioning and ventilation, and waiting for further instructions, according to the police jury message.
Louisiana State Police said troopers from its Emergency Services Unit were dispatched to the fire.
The fire started at the BioLab facility in Westlake Tuesday morning. https://t.co/nUlHRUJQzs
— WBRZ News (@WBRZ) July 2, 2024
DEQ said the U.S. Coast Guard had also temporarily shut down the Calcasieu Ship Channel between mile markers 33 and 36 as a precautionary measure.
A large part of the manufacturing facility owned by BioLab, a subsidiary of Georgia-based KIK Consumer Products, burned to the ground and sent poisonous gas over the Lake Charles area in August 2020 after Hurricane Laura. A chemical reaction resulted from water soaking product in the plant's warehouse, creating a large cloud of greenish gas over the region.
The plant was rebuilt and reopened in November 2022, touting improvements in its safety systems, but experienced a chlorine release from a pipeline at the plant in March 2023 that also resulted in a shelter-in-place order for residents within a mile of the facility.
Note: this story was updated on Tuesday, July 2, to show that BioLab expected to resume operations after getting a smoke incident under control.