2nd victim in Louisville plant explosion was pulled from rubble hours later, mayor says

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Louisville emergency officials confirmed two people died in Tuesday's explosion at a manufacturing plant in the Clifton neighborhood, one of whom was recovered hours later buried beneath the rubble.

Mayor Craig Greenberg said firefighters re-entered the building late Tuesday night to ensure everyone was accounted for. Louisville Fire Chief Brian O'Neill said firefighters took a "tremendous risk" to get to the second victim, not pulling him from the rubble until after midnight after a three-and-a-half-hour search.

"These two individuals who have passed went to their job in an ordinary day to provide for their family when the unthinkable happened," Greenberg said. "This is an incredibly sad and tragic incident." 

Another victim died after being transported to UofL Hospital, one of 13 people who died or were injured in the blast. Family members confirmed Wednesday morning that Austin Jaggers, 29, was one of the victims of the explosion. Greenberg said Wednesday the city isn't releasing details on the victims' identities at the request of the families, including how or where they died.

Residents across Louisville reported feeling the explosion around 3 p.m. Tuesday, which occurred at Givaudan Sense Colour at 1901 Payne St., just east of Interstate 64. The explosion shattered windows and shook homes in the Clifton neighborhood, just east of downtown.

Louisville first responders quickly responded to what it called a "hazardous materials incident" and issued a shelter in place for a 1-mile radius from the area. By 4:40 p.m., EMA lifted the shelter-in-place but said an evacuation order for the two blocks surrounding the building remained in place.

Greenberg said employees inside the plant initially told officials "everything was normal activity when the explosion occurred." He said representatives from Givaudan were invited to the city's Wednesday morning news conference but didn't come. A Givaudan spokesperson did not immediately respond to questions about why company representatives did not appear at the news conference. On Wednesday night, a spokesperson said in a statement that a "miscommunication" between two different evacuation locations outside the building let to an incorrect headcount.

"This initially led us to believe that all individuals were accounted for," the spokesperson said. "When it became clear this was not the case, we immediately coordinated with EMS at the site who re-initiated search and rescue operations."

Stefanie Lauber, head of corporate communications for Givaudan International, confirmed the deaths Wednesday morning in a statement.

"On Tuesday, late afternoon U.S. time, there was an explosion at the Sense Colour factory in Louisville, Kentucky. We are deeply saddened to share the news that two of our team members lost their lives in this accident. Several other individuals were also injured as a result. We are grieving with the families, friends, and loved ones of those that were lost and injured during this very difficult time."

Greenberg said 12 patients with various injuries were taken to University of Louisville Hospital and Baptist East Hospital. All 13 of those were killed or injured are confirmed to be Givaudan employees.

UofL Health Chief Medical Officer Jason Smith said seven people were brought to UofL Hospital downtown, one of whom arrived in critical condition and later died. As of 5 p.m. Wednesday, only one victim remained at the hospital in "stable" condition with non-life-threatening injuries. Five have been discharged.

During a news conference Tuesday evening, Smith said the types of injures range from burns to blunt force, penetration, and crushing injuries from debris. UofL Hospital officials also said they activated their "decontamination unit/procedures," and Louisville Fire Department officials also responded to the hospital helping with decontamination. The decontamination process can take up to 15 minutes depending on the exposure to chemicals, Smith said. 

Louisville Metro Police set up a "triage area" near the explosion scene, and several businesses nearby on Frankfort Avenue had all their windows blown out. All emergency officials reiterated Wednesday there aren't definitive answers yet for exactly what caused the explosion.

"We knew right away that we were dealing not only with a fire but also a structural collapse and also a hazardous material incident," O'Neill said Wednesday, adding that his team is trained for all three "very difficult" situations.

The hazardous fears reached out to the neighborhood too, where Clifton residents said the smell was so strong they could almost taste it. EMS officials said that was likely a bi-product of the fire.

Officials say they were monitoring not only the air but the runoff from their hoses from the moment they got on scene. From the start, Louisville Fire Chief Brian O'Neill said there were no safety concerns. They didn't find anything hazardous, and, as far as what chemicals the plant was using, it was the typical things that you would expect from a company like this: pot ash and a diluted ammonia solution.

O'Neill said if there was anything dangerous, the firefighters wouldn't have been in there digging through the rubble.

EMS has air quality sensors that they can mount to drones to provide real time monitoring of conditions in the air. Firefighters have handheld sensors but also equipment they can put up around the area that cast a wider net. That allows them to not miss a thing.

"We can put those out strategically in the neighborhood and we can monitor that at the command post so we're monitoring that real-time," said Jody Meiman with Louisville Metro Emergency Services. "We don't have to continuously send teams out at various times, and nothing's missed in between those times."

Greenberg said many homes in the area were damaged — and many people were displaced as a result — and asked homeowners not to remove debris from their yards or touched the damages areas. He said people should call MetroSafe at 502-574-2117 to report damage.

The Louisville Fire Department is leading the investigation, along with state and federal partners. According to a news release, a federal reconstruction team from the Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms is headed to Louisville to determine the cause of the incident.  

Several schools in the area reported delayed dismissal at the request of emergency officials.

Previous Explosion

The address of the explosion is Givaudan Sense Colour, an affiliate of Swiss-based fragrance and food coloring company Givaudan that bought D.D. Williamson in 2021. Givaudan Sense Color is headquartered in Louisville and has locations in Wisconsin, Brazil, England, Ireland, China, Malaysia and Africa.

In 2003, records show the D.D. Williamson plant was the site of an explosion that killed one employee and caused the release of aqua ammonia. A few dozen people in the area had to be evacuated. 1,500 residents were forced to shelter in place.

The blast occurred in a vessel called a feed tank used in the manufacturing of caramel coloring for food. Inspectors at the time concluded that the company did not have basic standards in place to determine if the equipment was sound. D.D. Williamson also was faulted for failing to properly train workers about the risks of feed tanks overheating. The feed tank likely failed and burst because it overheated, causing extreme pressure, investigators concluded.

The Kentucky Labor Cabinet, which oversees the state’s workplace safety program, fined D.D. Williamson $10,000 in connection with that blast. Four citations were for “serious” violations, including one under a federal rule requiring employers to keep areas free of known hazards that could kill or injure workers.

D.D. Williamson later agreed to pay $600,000 in civil penalties over alleged violations of the Clean Air Act and its regulations. The company improved the Louisville plant after the 2003 explosion, building a new facility for its manufacturing operations, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 

As part of that federal consent decree, D.D. Williamson was ordered to conduct an independent full hazard study and enact those recommendations, as well as to train managers in assessing risks.

There are no known safety violations in the past 10 years at the plant, according to online records. 

But in 2023, the plant agreed to $7,500 in fines to settle allegations from Louisville’s Air Pollution Control District. City regulators claimed plant officials did not notify them about excess emissions and did not submit annual compliance reports.

An explosion at a Givaudan plant in northern Kentucky in late 2012 scattered debris but didn't injure anyone.

Related Stories:

• 2 dead in plant explosion in Louisville's Clifton area that damaged homes, businesses

Copyright 2024 WDRB Media. The Associated Press contributed to this report. All Rights Reserved.