(Reuters) – A fire has broken out at Dow’s Plaquemine chemical plant in Louisiana, the U.S. chemical maker said in a statement on Friday.
Everyone at the facility was attended to and the fire was being handled by the company’s emergency operations center, Dow Louisiana said in a statement posted to Facebook, adding that they were in contact with officials.
Explosions at Iberville Parish facilities rocked homes in the nearby state capital, Baton Rouge, WAFB TV reported. Factory officials said they were still working to assess the cause of the incident, which began around 9:15 p.m. (0215 GMT), the CBS affiliate said.
Dow did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
The Iberville Parish Council’s Office of Emergency Preparedness has issued “shelter in place” for residents within a half-mile radius, officials said in a Facebook post, adding that the Dow’s aerial surveillance picked up no readings.
(Reporting by Jyoti Narayan in Bengaluru; Editing by William Mallard)