Two contractors were injured Tuesday morning when a flash fire broke out at Carbide Industries, a chemical plant in Louisville's Rubbertown neighborhood known for producing calcium carbide. Officials reported the incident at approximately 11:13 a.m. at the plant's address of 4400 Bells Lane, with both injured workers taken to a hospital for treatment.
According to WLKY, officials initially described the incident as an explosion, but fire officials later clarified it was more of a flash fire. The outlet reports the fire came out of a 5,000-pound portable tote containing calcium carbide, and that the two injured people are contractors whose extent of injuries was not immediately available.
Separately, WDRB reports the workers were transporting the 5,000-pound tote of calcium carbide in the plant's parking lot area when the fire broke out, and that both men were taken to the hospital to be treated for burns, with their conditions unknown. MetroSafe said crews from Louisville Fire and the Pleasure Ridge Park Fire Protection District had the situation under control, per the same report.
Health Department and MSD Respond to the Scene
The station also notes that the city's health department responded to the scene, which has since been turned over to Louisville's Metropolitan Sewer District. Carbide Industries manufactures calcium carbide, a chemical used in steelmaking and to make acetylene gas for welding and cutting, the station reports.
Calcium carbide itself carries inherent risks: a safety fact sheet from the New Jersey Department of Health describes it as a dangerous fire and explosion hazard that forms flammable acetylene gas when exposed to moisture, according to nj.gov. Federal workplace safety rules, meanwhile, require facilities covered by the standard—those handling specified processes and chemicals or quantities—to take steps preventing or minimizing the consequences of catastrophic releases, according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
Plant Has Seen Explosions Before
Tuesday's incident was not the first at the Rubbertown facility. The station's report notes that an explosion occurred at the same plant almost a year earlier, though no one was hurt in that incident.
A far more severe explosion struck the plant in 2011, when fire ripped through the building, killing two people and injuring two others, per the same account. A summary from the U.S. Chemical Safety Board describes that 2011 blast as having killed two workers and injured two others, according to csb.gov.
