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    • At least 11 injured at Givaudan Sense Color plant
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    At least 11 injured at Givaudan Sense Color plant

    Online Niel Posted on

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    An explosion shortly after 3pm in the Clifton neighborhood on Tuesday afternoon sent at least 11 people to hospital and blew out windows in the surrounding area.

    Check back for live updates from the scene.

    In a statement, Givaudian, the owner of the factory in the Clifton neighborhood, announced overnight that two employees had been injured in Tuesday’s explosion.

    Two patients injured in the explosion are in critical condition, said Dr. Jason Smith, chief medical officer of the University of Louisville Hospital, during a press conference tuesday evening

    Five other patients receiving treatment are in stable condition, Smith said. UofL is treating seven of the 11 patients injured in the blast.

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    Louisville explosion: At least 11 injured at Givaudan Sense Color plant

    An explosion reported in the 1900 block of Payne Street in the Clifton neighborhood left 11 people hospitalized. No casualties were reported.

    Two patients injured in the explosion are in critical condition, said Dr. Jason Smith, chief medical officer of the University of Louisville Hospital, during a news conference.

    Five other patients receiving treatment are in stable condition, Smith said. UofL is treating seven of the 11 people hospitalized in the blast.

    Smith said the patients were either injured by the force of the blast, burned or by debris that fell during the blast.

    Patients received by UofL were cleaned through a decontamination process before receiving treatment for their injuries, he said.

    “For something like this, they were exposed to a lot of different chemicals, so we made sure to decontaminate them for everything,” Smith said.

    Jacob Hayden has lived on Payne Street for about a decade and “could throw a rock” at the factory he lives from.

    He left work early after seeing media reports of the explosion. After waiting behind yellow caution tape for about an hour, authorities finally let him walk to his home. Several windows were broken, items fell off shelves and his two cats were shaken, he said.

    The thought that an accident could affect him, living just doors from the factory, had been in his mind for years, he said. He heard about the 2003 explosion at the same facility, but the concern that something serious could impact feels more real now, he said.

    Hayden questions the wisdom of allowing a factory to operate in a predominantly residential area.

    “There shouldn’t be a factory in a residential area if you ask me. Not at all,” he said. “It has to be a long look at the company.”

    Letters to the Editor: Were you affected by the Clifton blast or have a comment? We want to hear from you.

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    Plant explosion in the 1900 block of Payne Street in the Clifton neighborhood

    First responders and city officials responded to the scene of a factory explosion in the 1900 block of Payne Street in the Clifton neighborhood.

    Sam Upshaw Jr.

    Officials say 11 people were hospitalized after an explosion in the 1900 block of Payne Street in the Clifton neighborhood Tuesday afternoon, though no deaths were reported.

    A shelter-in-place order for a 1-mile radius of the blast site was lifted at 4:39 p.m., according to a LENSAlert from Louisville Metro Emergency Services. Authorities urged people to stay away from the area as the investigation is ongoing.

    Officers from Louisville Metro Police’s Fifth Division blocked off the road near the scene, LMPD officials said on social media.

    A WAVE-TV weather camera captured the incident, showing a large amount of smoke coming from the building Tuesday afternoon.

    Students at Breckinridge-Franklin Elementary, located 0.8 miles from the blast site, and Lincoln Elementary Performing Arts School, just over 2 miles from the blast site, sheltered in place Tuesday afternoon but were given permission to quit shortly before 4:00 p.m. , district spokeswoman Carolyn Callahan said.

    Students at the Kentucky School for the Blind were also sheltering in place, officials said in a Facebook post. All students are safe and accounted for at school.

    “It was so cool. I couldn’t believe it’

    Arthur Smith, a resident of the Clifton neighborhood, said he was walking on South Spring Street when he heard the bang. “I heard it and felt it in the ground,” he said. “I tell you what, it got your attention.”

    Smith isn’t sure exactly what happened, but said it was unlike anything he experienced while living in the neighborhood.

    Karen Roberts, assistant community director at Axis in Lexington, was showing an apartment to a potential tenant when she heard the explosion. Tenants at the 300-unit Clifton complex rushed to their balconies to see what had happened, she said.

    “It was so cool. I couldn’t believe it,” she said in her office, a block away from the police roadblock on Payne Street. “… You can almost see the plant on the back windows of some.”

    Residents were briefly locked out when the complex lost power, she said, but were able to get in when the lights came back on about 10 seconds later.

    Erik Hart and his partner, who own a house across the street from the construction site, arrived in the area near the blast around 4:10 p.m. after receiving a call from their tenant who said an impact had caused the house’s windows to shatter.

    The couple came hoping to help their tenant out of the house, where she is still sheltering. They also brought materials to cover the windows, Hart said.

    Last year, the Louisville Metro Air Pollution Control District issued two violation notices against Givaudan Sense Color’s Payne Street location.

    In one case, the district alleged the company “failed to submit annual reports, semi-annual reports and annual certifications of compliance by the permitted deadlines and failed to monitor and record equipment intervals” as required by the facility’s permit.

    In another instance, the district said the company failed to provide notices of excess emissions as required by district regulations.

    Both cases were settled with the district for a total of $7,500, according to district records.

    In April 2003, an explosion at the plant caused the release of 26,000 kilograms of aqua ammonia, or ammonia solution in water, according to an investigation by the US Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Commission.

    The explosion, which involved a fuel tank failure, killed one worker and prompted the evacuation of 26 people and the sheltering of 1,500 people.

    The board’s investigation found the company lacked “effective programs to determine whether equipment and processes met basic process and plant engineering requirements” and lacked adequate operating procedures and training programs for plant operators.

    Eboni Cochran, an environmental justice attorney with Rubbertown Emergency ACTion, said the Clifton explosion is a prime example of how vulnerable communities can be when chemical industries are located near residential neighborhoods.

    “There’s a very good chance that many people who live in this city think that sheltering in place is simply staying indoors when it’s not. It’s also very likely that many of those who have evacuated don’t have backpacks ready to go,” she. said in a statement. “There are a lot of questions that the residents of that area need to ask. I hope there is full disclosure.”

    Monica Unseld, a local environmental justice and public health advocate, called on city officials to approve and adopt the Louisville Charter for Safer Chemicals in the wake of the explosion.

    “This explosion again highlights the need for communities to have a ‘right to know’ when it comes to chemicals in their communities,” she said in a statement. “It also highlights that all workplaces must be safe for workers and the surrounding communities.”

    This is a breaking story and will be updated.

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