One dead, three injured in Rubbertown chemical plant fire

THE COURIER-JOURNAL - MARCH 22, 2011

Written by
Patrick Howington
and James Bruggers

A worker from Southern Indiana was killed and three other workers were injured in an explosion and fire Monday afternoon at Rubbertown’s Carbide Industries plant, with Louisville police warning residents within a mile to stay inside and close their doors and windows.

Doug Hamilton, the city’s emergency management director, said the warning turned out to be unnecessary, although he said it wasn’t a bad idea. An air test around the plant detected no danger, he said.

“There is no risk to the community right now, and hasn’t been,” Hamilton said from the scene, adding that the warning should have been lifted sooner.

Several nearby residents who depend on telephone alerts to find out when a chemical plant leak occurs were livid that the system had no report on the Carbide Industries fire nearly two hours after it began.

“I am so furious right now,” said Terri Humphrey, a resident of Riverside Gardens, south of the plant but just beyond the one-mile warning zone.

The fire, reported at 5:40 p.m. at the plant at 4400 Bells Lane, involved calcium carbide, which Hamilton said poses an inhalation hazard if someone comes in close contact with it. Water can’t be used on calcium-carbide fires because it produces acetylene gas, he said.

Four workers, two of whom had life-threatening injuries, were taken to University Hospital, said Capt. Sal Melendez, spokesman for Louisville Fire & Rescue. One who later died was identified as Steven Nichols, 59, of Charlestown, Ind., according to deputy Jefferson County coroner Sam Weakley.

Another worker was released late Monday night, said hospital spokesman David McArthur.

Of the three surviving workers, two were Carbide Industries employees and one worked at a neighboring plant, said John Gant, general manager of Carbide Industries. He said 17 employees were in the plant at the time.

The fire blew out one side of the furnace that occupies two floors of the five-story building and can reach 3,800-degrees Fahrenheit. “When the building exploded, it threw a lot of this very hot material out over a long, broad area,” Gant said.

“We don’t know what went wrong,” he said.

Shortly after the fire was reported, the Lake Dreamland Fire Department, which was in charge of the scene, declared a hazardous material Level 2 incident. Louisville Police asked the National Weather Service to send out an alert through the emergency broadcast system warning residents to go inside, a MetroSafe supervisor said.

A Level 2 hazmat incident is the release of a product of which the public will be immediately aware, such as through an odor, nausea, nose or throat irritation, for which the best course of action is to remain indoors. They are referred to at times as a “burp” or “slug” and will dissipate in a brief period.

The warning covered people living in the area around the plant and points within a mile east and northeast. Residents were advised to seek shelter indoors immediately, close all windows and doors, block all outside air, turn off any air-conditioners and bring in pets.

Numerous streets around the plant were closed, and police shut down the Interstate 264 exit at Bells Lane. The 40th Street ramp at Algonquin Parkway also was blocked.

A plume of gray smoke rose from the site, but Hamilton said that was from a grass fire outside the plant.

The smoke had cleared about an hour later, but officials said the fire continued to burn inside the plant and crews from the Lake Dreamland Fire Department and Louisville Fire & Rescue would be on the scene for some time. Pleasure Ridge Park and Dixie Suburban departments also responded.

Fire officials decided to let the blaze burn itself out, given the risk of using water and a lack of large amounts of dry fire retardant. Officials also did not know if the building was structurally sound enough for firefighters to go inside, said Jody Meiman, assistant chief of the Lake Dreamland department.

Leslie Pennington, who lives less than a mile from the plant in the 2300 block of South 36th Street, said he heard a “boom” and saw smoke from the direction of the plant, followed by what he described as a sulfur-like smell that left a bad taste in his mouth.

He said he heard an emergency alarm but it was “barely noticeable.”

By 7:30 p.m., the city’s Rubbertown Community Awareness Line of Louisville, or RCALL, had no information about it. City officials established the line, (502) 574-2580, in 2004 to convey information to residents about chemical incidents.

“They are not telling nobody nothing,” said Humphrey, who lives just beyond the one-mile warning zone. “There’s no way to find out what to do. Do we stay inside? Do we get out?”

Eboni Cochran, a Rubbertown neighborhood activist, criticized the city’s failure to notify residents of the incident either through sirens or RCALL.

“Sirens should have been blaring,” she said. “Anytime there’s an explosion at a facility that houses toxic chemicals, you’re going to tell me that, ‘we have to wait and make a determination’?” she said. “No. You let the people make a determination on whether they want to get their babies and their mothers out of the area.”

When Mayor Greg Fischer arrived moments later, Cochran castigated him for the failure.

Fischer said he will meet with emergency and plant officials to assess the city’s response and see if changes are needed.

Hamilton said that within 30 minutes after an incident occurs, it is supposed to be posted on the RCALL system by the Rubbertown company involved.

Gant said he didn’t know why that didn’t happen. As of 9 p.m., the hotline still carried a day-old message, but by about 10:30 the fire had been posted.

The RCALL system has not always worked well, said Carl Hilton, a former chemical industry environmental safety manager who is now the executive director of the West Jefferson County Community Task Force, a group that follows environmental and safety issues in the Rubbertown area.

“They need to look into that,” he said. Effective communication during chemical incidents has been a point of contention with some nearby residents, he said.

The carbide plant is very dusty and poses a particularly difficult fire hazard because of the product it makes, he said. “You can’t put water on it,” he said.

Carbide Industries’ website describes the business as North America’s largest producer of calcium carbide products, with plants in Louisville and Calvert City, Ky.

“Perhaps best recognized as the primary source of acetylene gas for metal fabrication and construction, calcium carbide is also a vital ingredient in the manufacture of many specialty chemicals,” the website says.

Calcium carbide is made by heating a lime and carbon mixture to more than 2,100 degrees, producing a grayish-black lump of sand-like powder with a garlic odor. It is used to generate acetylene gas, and in chemical and steel manufacturing, and metal cutting.

It’s also highly flammable. Sources of ignition such as cigarettes and open flames are normally prohibited where calcium carbide is used, handled or stored.

Poisonous gases are produced when it burns, including calcium oxides, according to information from the Environmental Protection Agency and the New Jersey Department of Health, and it can irritate the skin and lungs.

It reacts with water and moisture to produce acetylene gas and lime. Acetylene gas vapors can cause dizziness or asphyxiation if inhaled at high concentrations.

Carbide Industries was previously known as Carbide/Graphite Group. It was purchased by Carbide Industries in 2002.

In June 2009, a fire caused severe damage and forced the evacuation of the plant as firefighters fought the blaze. Firefighters at the time had to use dry chemical powder to put out the blaze.

Two firefighters were taken to the hospital with burns on their legs after the chemical reacted with sweat on their bodies, authorities told The Courier-Journal then. A third firefighter was treated at the scene for a minor injury.

In August 2006, a late-night chemical spill at the plant put some nearby residents on edge after officials used warning sirens and announcements on radio and television to tell people to go inside and stay there. No one was injured as a result of the 500-gallon hydrochloric acid spill, officials said then.

A plant official explained that the company used hydrochloric acid, a strong corrosive, to reduce the alkalinity of storm-water runoff from a lime product.

Reporter Patrick Howington can be reached at (502) 582-4229.
Reporter James Bruggers can be reached at (502) 582-4645.
Reporter Peter Smith contributed to this story.