DOYLINE - Multiple explosions at Goex Inc., a black powder-manufacturing company in a former ammunition plant in Webster Parish, left two people injured and other employees shaken Wednesday afternoon. Early estimates put damage at the plant at $2.5 million.
The incident is the third at the 29-acre plant at Doyline in the past three years. An employee was burned severely in a flash fire and explosion Jan. 25, 2000. And an explosion Nov. 5, 1998, killed a worker.
Occupational Safety and Health Administration inspectors are expected on site today to begin looking into Wednesday's incident. State police are investigating to determine if it was caused by human error.
"We don't know what set it off at this time," Senior Trooper Steve Childress said. "The follow-up investigation will be multifaceted, involving the state police, Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms agents and OSHA."
State police received the first call of an explosion Wednesday at 1:25 p.m., Childress said. It happened in a room where employees were in the initial stages of mixing Clearshot, a synthetic black powder used by muzzle loaders. Six employees were in the first building, known as the H line. They and 36 other employees were evacuated from the area.
"I was just performing my job, and the next thing I heard was a boom, the line just went up in smoke," said employee John Montgomery, who was working in an area near the explosion. "Everybody was rushing out."
Company representatives told state police they anticipated a second explosion. It came at 2:47 p.m., with 1,000 pounds of Clearshot detonating.
Childress said authorities are unsure how many pounds exploded the first time, but the amount was less than the second. A series of three or four other "very small" explosions followed.
Two employees in the building where the first explosion occurred were treated for minor injuries. One was treated on site by ambulance personnel for what appeared to be shock, state police said. The second was taken to the hospital and treated for abrasions and bruises.
Montgomery said this is the first time during his three years at the plant to witness an explosion. "This is just something I have to deal with. It's a fear you learn to live with."