AMITE — Firefighters were close to extinguishing a fire Monday evening that’s been burning since Friday’s explosion at a petroleum products plant in Tangipahoa Parish. Emergency responders are now focused on containing and cleaning up materials believed to have spilled from the site.
The fire at Smitty’s Supply in Roseland was roughly 98% contained as of about 4 p.m. Monday, said Bray Fisher, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s regional on-scene incident commander. After initially setting up an evacuation zone with a 1-mile radius, officials have allowed all but seven households directly adjacent to the plant site to return home.
Students at Roseland Elementary School, a few hundred yards from Smitty’s Supply, will be able to return to campus Tuesday, officials said.
There have been no injuries or deaths as a result of the explosion and fire.
Officials are awaiting lab results to confirm the chemicals and materials involved in the blast. Much of the surrounding area was covered in an oily mixture Friday afternoon when rainfall mixed with the plumes of smoke from Friday’s blaze.
Gov. Jeff Landry, who traveled to Tangipahoa for Monday’s news conference, said there is no evidence the residue is harmful, but he recommended that residents refrain from cleaning their property until there are assurances there is no risk. Neighbors could take their vehicles to a carwash, he said.
“If there wouldn’t have been a rain event, you probably wouldn’t have seen much,” the governor said.
Efforts to contain damage from the explosion are largely focused on the Tangipahoa River, which had a visible oil slick stretching several miles south to Independence and beyond.
Residents in the Fletcher Isles neighborhood, near the river’s mouth in Ponchatoula, reported seeing oil where the river enters Lake Pontchartrain more than 40 miles downstream.
Tangipahoa Parish President Robby Miller said crews have deployed more than 5,900 feet of containment boom to recover contaminants from rivers, ponds and ditches.
Among the many cleanup spots is Serenity Sands, a recreational site along the Tangipahoa River near Independence. Cleanup crews parked a vacuum truck on the bridge above the beach to drop containment material and recover a petroleum slick that had been flowing through the area since Friday.
Fisher said workers have so far recovered a total of 100,000 gallons of “material” and 10,000 gallons of firefighting foam.
The governor said officials are aware of reports of petroleum products entering open water.
“We are going to be here every step of the way until we get the site cleaned up and figure out a way to move forward,” Landry said.
Sam Paji, who owns a small gas station and convenience store along U.S. Highway 51 in Roseland, about 2 miles from Smitty’s, said chemical residue collected on his property, and one of his air conditioning units stopped working after Friday’s explosion. He has an inspector coming out this weekend to assess damages and determine the cause of the broken A/C unit.
As of now, the biggest impact to his business has been the loss of revenue from officials shutting down the highway in that part of town. Paji said he was forced to close his store over the weekend and retreat to his home in Hammond.
“Obviously, we lost a lot of business,” he said.
Courtney Burdette, secretary of the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality, said her agency and the EPA have continuously monitored the air near Smitty’s Supply for toxins. The results, which are posted to the agency’s website, have so far been within safe levels, she said.
The EPA and the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration are investigating the explosion, officials said.
Smitty’s Supply has been previously cited for Clean Water Act violations for releasing contaminants into drainage areas, including oil, grease, fecal coliform and carbon compounds such as methane and ethanol. The company has been fined more than $161,000 since 2021, according to the EPA’s website.
There is no indication that any of the past offenses are connected to last week’s explosion.
Asked about the company’s history of violations, Landry said emergency response efforts should take priority now, and the possibility of any additional infractions would be covered in the ongoing investigations.
The governor also noted Smitty’s Supply is an “absolutely vital and important” company that creates products “that allow all of us to enjoy the quality of life not only in this country but in this world.” It employs some 400 workers, who Landry said are also impacted by the explosion.