Fire rages after plant explosion prompts evacuation in Tangipahoa. Former governor among evacuees.

An explosion and raging fire at a plant in Tangipahoa Parish known to store highly flammable products prompted an evacuation order within a one-mile radius on Friday, affecting an elementary school and former Gov. John Bel Edwards, while firefighters battled the towering blaze.

An aerial photograph from local authorities showed a portion of the facility in the small community of Roseland engulfed in flames with a dark black plume rising above it. Gov. Jeff Landry said his office was closely monitoring the situation. 

Firefighters battled the blaze for hours after it was reported just before 1 p.m., but by late Friday afternoon parish officials couldn't yet estimate when it would be brought under control.

Louisiana State Police said Friday night that the fire was still burning nine hours after the explosion, and that the facility "has sustained severe damage." They urged people living nearby to remain indoors and limit exposure.

No injuries were reported.

"This is one of the worst things that has happened to our community," Roseland Mayor Van L. Showers said at the Amite Community Center, which had been set up as a shelter.

He added that he was focused on making sure the town’s 960 residents who evacuated have a place to stay. On the steps outside the center, a pastor led a prayer as residents wearing white masks bowed their heads.

The plume of smoke could be seen from there, located several miles away, and the air was acrid.

School officials evacuated nearby Roseland Elementary on the advice of parish homeland security officials and brought them by bus to central offices in Amite for parent pickup.

Edwards and his wife, Donna, live in Roseland and said in a text message that they had joined the evacuation. The site is less than a mile from their home.

The incident occurred at the Smitty's Supply Inc. complex off U.S. 51. State and local officials could not say yet what was burning or what sparked the explosion and fire, but the plant's 8.7 million gallons of tank storage can hold a variety of highly flammable products, state regulatory and company papers say.

The complex employs about 400 to 450 people.

Smitty's officials told state regulators in 2023 that the facility's storage tanks can typically hold ethanol, charcoal lighter fluid, gas oil mixture, motor oil, lubricants and hydraulic fluids, diesel, brake fluid, grease and a variety of unnamed water-based chemicals, according to the report.

Smitty's said then that none of the materials, while flammable, is considered hazardous under state or federal law.

'Doing our best to protect'

A Tangipahoa Sheriff's Office spokesperson, Ashley Rodrigue, said first responders were staging at the Florida Parishes Arena in Amite. Multiple departments were involved, including from neighboring Livingston and St. Tammany parishes.

During a brief news conference in Amite on Friday afternoon, Tangipahoa Parish President Robby Miller promised to provide more information as it becomes available.

"I'm going to reiterate that we are doing our best to protect people, structures and the environment," Miller said.

He said he did not expect the one-mile evacuation zone to be expanded at this time. 

Miller said responding firefighters have experience with industrial fires and, according to Smitty's response plans, the plant has an in-house emergency response team. Online maps show a Tangipahoa Parish fire department is located next door to Smitty's.

Attempts to reach Smitty's officials were unsuccessful on Friday afternoon. Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality officials set up air monitoring and had not detected harmful chemicals at the ground level around the fire by 4:30 pm.

Greg Langley, DEQ spokesman, said personnel were using handheld monitors to measure emissions, likely for byproducts produced from burning hydrocarbons. He said the U.S. Environment Protection Agency also hired contractors to aid in the air monitoring, though he didn't know when that team would arrive.

Langley said at some point during the fire an oily material emanated from the blaze and fell on the surrounding area. 

Such a large fire typically combusts, or destroys, much of the burning chemical but often not 100% of it. Estimates vary on the completeness of the combustion in an uncontrolled fire like this one.

In chemical plants, familiar facility flares, which are designed to destroy harmful emissions, can work with up to 98% or 99% efficiency but have tight controls that are regularly monitored by workers.

Michael Ruffin, a 71-year-old Roseland resident, was sitting on his porch less than a mile from the plant when he heard the explosion, then saw the fire and smoke.

"It was scary," he said at the Amite shelter.

He said the sheriff’s department had come to his house about 30 minutes before the explosion to tell him to evacuate and warned him of a possible blast. He stayed to wait for his wife, but when the explosion happened, he got in his car. His wife arrived soon after and they went to the community center.

Ruffin, who moved to Roseland from New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, said "now we have to run from this here. It’s something."

Tonya Mabry, executive director of housing in Tangipahoa, said in the early evening that about 100 evacuees had shown up to the Amite Community Center, which has a capacity of 175 to 200. If needed, an additional overflow center would be opened.

“We’re pretty much prepared,” she said, though she added that this was the first explosion she’s worked on — normally it’s hurricanes or floods.

'Praying for everyone's safety'

Mike Whittington, the chief executive officer of Hood Memorial Hospital in Amite, said his hospital has seen a slight uptick of residents and others from outside the complex Friday afternoon. Whittington didn't immediately have more details on the nature and size of the visits, but said the area around Smitty's is not densely populated.

Gov. Landry said on X that "we are monitoring this situation closely. Please follow the guidance of your local officials. We are praying for everyone’s safety."

Covering about 20 acres, Smitty's blends and distributes oil and other lubricants under the Super S, Shell, Quaker State, Castrol, Exxon, Valvoline and many other brand names and also provides contract oil, lubrication and treatment product manufacture.

The facility has 20 separate tank farms with 265 steel or plastic above-ground storage units. Those tanks hold between 2,000 and 504,000 gallons of various but generally flammable liquids, according to a 2023 state regulatory report.

Many of the tanks are outdoors, although the facility has more than 14 acres of warehouse space, storm water and company plans show.

The 2023 report is required so state regulators can assess the company's plans for potential spills that might leak from tanks into surrounding watersheds. The report is not a current assessment of what was being stored in Smitty's on Friday.

The complex, which also has a grease manufacturing plant, is set up to receive and offload materials from trucks and rail cars and has three rail spurs, the company says.

In addition to the oil, lubricant and grease blending, manufacture or storage, Smitty's has plastic injection molding equipment to make bottles and other products.

Marco Cartolano, Tyler Bridges and Bob Warren contributed to this story.