An explosion rocked a Louisiana oil refinery on Monday, shaking homes and businesses as firefighters raced to douse the resulting blaze.
The blast, heard for miles around, took place at 9:30 a.m. local time at the Marathon refinery in Garyville. Video from the scene showed smoke billowing from the site. Garyville is about 40 miles west of New Orleans and 50 miles southeast of Baton Rouge.
"Marathon Petroleum is responding to a fire at its ... refinery," the Ohio-based company said in a statement. "The refinery is currently assessing the impact within the plant and at this time there are no indications of injuries."
Air monitoring was deployed in the community, and local emergency responders were notified, the statement said. The state Department of Environmental Quality said some of the refinery was placed under a shelter-in-place order, and some workers were moved to a closed area to avoid contamination.
St. John the Baptist Parish Sheriff MikeTregre's office posted a warning to residents on Facebook: "Please avoid the area of west Airline Highway and Marathon Avenue in Garyville due to officials working an incident." A short time later, at about 10:25 a.m., Tregre gave the all-clear and roads were reopened.
Tregre confirmed on WVUE-TV that no injuries were immediately reported. The explosion was contained to the Marathon property, Tregre told the station.
The refinery, on Mississippi River, has a crude oil refining capacity of 578,000 barrels per day, according to the company's website. A major expansion project was completed in 2009 that increased Garyville’s crude oil refining capacity, making it one of the largest refineries in the U.S.
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