An explosion and fire rocked a Chalmette refinery on Friday afternoon, shaking homes miles away and causing nearby lunchtime diners to scatter, but no injuries were reported and the blaze was quickly brought under control.
The cause of the blast at Chalmette Refining, near the busy intersection of Paris Road and St. Bernard Highway, was not yet clear and air monitoring was ongoing. The explosion was felt as far away as New Orleans' Bywater neighborhood and across the river in the Algiers area, while videos showed a raging fire and thick, black smoke rising into the air in the immediate aftermath.
The blast occurred around 12:50 p.m. and was contained within around 10 minutes of firefighters responding, said Ryan Roy, St. Bernard Fire Department’s inspector of fire protection. The refinery is equipped with its own emergency response team, and those firefighters worked with the St. Bernard Fire Department to fight the blaze inside one of the plant's processing units.
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