Louisiana State Police now confirm that there has been one fatality. At this time, State Police confirm seven or eight people are injured at this time. The remainder of those reported injured have been taken to hospitals and are still being evaluated.

Residents in Iberville Parish from Highway 3115 to Highway 74 should shelter in place as a precaution. Close doors and windows and stay inside.

Officials at the plant say the explosion happened at 8:37 a.m. Louisiana State Police Capt. Doug Cain reports the fire is now out. There were as many as 600 workers in the plant at the time of the explosion.

Eight of the injured were taken to Baton Rouge General Hospital. Of those eight, only one is in critical condition and two are in serious condition.

There is no word on what caused the explosion.

Geismar is about 20 miles south of Baton Rouge, LA.

The American Red Cross disaster volunteers have deployed from around the state and are providing food, water and emotional support to those affected by the explosion.

Governor Bobby Jindal will hold a Unified Command Group meeting today to get an update on the plant explosion. He will then travel to the plant site to get a briefing from local officials. he will then speak to the media and give a report.

DEQ has completed the first round of monitoring around Highways LA 3115 and LA 73 and there was nothing alarming detected initially. The air monitoring area is being expanded now.

The Environmental Protection Agency has mobilized a START Team to help monitor the air quality around the plant.

According to DEQ, the release from the stack is reported to be residual propelyne – this is what’s generating the smoke

According to Louisiana State Police, the evacuation of the plant, shelters in place at Honeywell and PCS (the two neighboring plants) and road closures will be in place until further notice. The shelter in place has been lifted in St. Gabriel.

“We are in the process of accounting for all personnel. Injuries have been reported, the number and extent of those injuries is not known at this point,” said Tom Droege with Williams Geismar Olefins plant in a news release.

The Ascension Parish Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness has set up a reunification center for plant workers and their families at the Lamar Dixon Expo Center at 9039 S. St. Landry Ave, Gonzales, Louisiana.

For those seeking family members, the Ascension Parish Emergency Operations Center has a set up a phone number: 866-380-2303. The EOC will not be able to patch callers through to their family members, but will be able to give callers the status of their loved ones.

The St. George Fire Department dispatched an engine company and a chief officer to East Iberville High School to assist with triage and treatment of patients as requested.

Plant workers were taken by bus to various staging areas.

Homeland Security is also on scene assisting investigators, according to Lester Kenyon, the Public Information Officer for Ascension Parish.

“We train for these types of events because this is a heavy corridor for these types of plants along the Mississippi River,” Kenyon told CNN.

Local routes to the plant have been closed by the local authorities. Here is a list of the road closures:

• LA 74 and LA 30 at LA 3115
• LA 30 at LA 74 is closed
• LA 30 at LA 73
• LA 75 at LA 3115//////////////
  According to the company’s website, it provides products to customers in the petrochemical industry. The Geismar plant produces 1.3 billion pounds of ethylene and 90 million pounds of polymer grade propylene, both flammable gases used in industrial chemicals and plastic products.
• Almost every plastic is ethylene based.  1.3 billion pounds of It being produced at this plant.Williams employs more than 4,500 people at this plant. Operations span from the deepwater of the Gulf of Mexico to the Canadian Oil Sands.The Olefin team is responsible for the ethane transportation business consisting of approximately 200 miles of pipelines, as well as a refinery-grade propylene splitter.A neighboring plant says the major exposure is Butadiene spheres. They say that Williams Olefin has a hydrocarbon fire and the concern is that another explosion could occur and the fire is not under control.More information will be provided as it becomes available.A fertilizer plant exploded in West, TX on April 17, killing 15 people – 12 of which were first responders – and injured hundreds. The explosion heavily damaged homes, businesses and schools in the town of 2,800. On Wednesday, the Federal Emergency Management Agency denied additional aid to West.

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