LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Louisville Fire Chief Brian O'Neill said he hopes his department's investigation into the plant explosion that killed two people Tuesday afternoon in Clifton should wrap up this weekend.

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.

In total, two people were killed and 11 others were injured.

Cheryl Richardson, who lives nearby said she was home when the explosion happened and thought right away it was the plant.

"The ceiling fell in," Richardson said. "Some windows are broken. That's the main thing. There's like a fine layer of black dust on everything, so that's going to take a while to clean up, I'm sure."

One victim died after being transported to UofL Hospital. Family members confirmed Wednesday morning that Austin Jaggers, 29, was one of the victims of the explosion. Louisville Mayor Craig 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.

Two people were killed.

Hours after the explosion, firefighters re-entered the building after Givaudan officials said it realized it was short one person in their headcount. 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.

Greenberg said employees inside the plant initially told officials "everything was normal activity when the explosion occurred."

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."

IMAGES | Explosion at plant in Louisville leaves wake of destruction, workers hospitalized

What's Next

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said its agents have been in Louisville investigating the blast. They've been talking to witnesses, searching for evidence and looking over any surveillance video. O'Neill said the investigators are the best in the business and if there's any possibility of finding an exact cause, they'll do it.

But it's not any easy task with the much damage to the building.

"(ATF) is working with LMFD to identify the blast seat of the explosion, the radius of the blast damage, and attempting to determine the cause of the explosion," ATF said in a written statement Thursday. "This work involves on scene examination, as well as interviewing victims and witnesses, assessing surveillance video, and reviewing other evidence to establish facts surrounding the incident."

Many Clifton residents were out Thursday surveying the damage to their properties. Many have broken windows and debris in their yard, but they've been told not to remove the debris. Greenberg said people should call MetroSafe at 502-574-2117 to report damage. By 4 p.m. Thursday, city officials said MetroSafe had received about 60 calls reporting damage or debris in relation to the explosion.

"It's a blast, and if you think everything was sent out, they have to reconstruct how that came back," O'Neill said. "So they need to document the location so they can figure out exactly how that blast happened to go back to that point of origin."

Clifton residents, meanwhile, are left trying to get their property back in order. At 6 p.m. Monday, a Clifton Neighborhood Meeting will be held at United Crescent Hill Ministries on State Street. City officials will attend the meeting to listen to residents and address their concerns.

Greenberg said he thinks it would be helpful if Givaudan was in the neighborhood providing information to people impacted by this explosion and said he's encouraged that. He said he would like to keep Givaudan in the city but would like to see another location considered that's not so close to so many houses.

"I think the most important thing is to call your insurance company," Greenberg said Thursday. "Please do reach out to Metro Safe and, again, we are encouraging the company to get back out into neighborhood to provide more information to people who have been impacted by that. We're going to continue to do that throughout the day to encourage that communication."

That same opinion has come from many Clifton residents, who said they want the plant rebuilt somewhere else.  

"Really what's most frightening is the projectiles that we found that are huge and definitely would kill a person," Richardson said. "I don't know how more people didn't get killed."

'Very difficult'

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.

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."

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