Two silos of refined sugar at the century-old Domino Sugar Refinery in Arabi caught fire Thursday afternoon, sending plumes of thick smoke into the sky and prompting St. Bernard Parish authorities to advise nearby residents to shelter in place.
The 3-alarm, 10-story tall fire started in a silo at the factory during start-up mode about 4 p.m., Parish President Guy McInnis said. It was under control two hours later, with 30 firefighters and eight trucks on scene working to put the fire out.
Residents reported hearing a boom in the area, and the extent of the damage “lends proof that there was an explosion,” McInnis said. But parish officials were having further discussions with the plant to pinpoint the exact cause, which wasn’t immediately available.
A Domino spokesperson said firefighters at the Valero refinery helped extinguish the fire by 6:30 p.m. Fire crews spent the rest of the day using thermal-imaging equipment to confirm the silos and surrounding buildings were safe, the spokesperson said.
Some 130 employees were in the building at the start of the fire but were safely evacuated and accounted for, the spokesperson said.
McInnis issued a shelter-in-place order out of an abundance of caution but said the neighborhood surrounding the sugar refinery was safe. St. Bernard Parish Sheriff Jimmy Pohlmann said the nearby Aycock Barn was open to residents who lived south of St. Claude Avenue until the fire was under control.
Shortly after 6 p.m., the shelter-in-place order was called off.
The refinery in Arabi has been in operation since 1909. The facility has employed as many as 400 workers in recent years and processes much of the raw sugar produced by the Louisiana’s sugar cane farmers.
In 2012, Domino celebrated being the first domestic sugar refinery to surpass one million tons of production in a single year.
READ MORE