The Big Boom

Yesterday was a Tuesday much like any other November Tuesday, not terribly warm, not terribly cold, with just the right amount of cloud cover to make you want to take a nap. Up until about 1500 that is, then the Givaudan Sense Colour factory blew up.

I was across town with Motörhead blasting and didn't hear a thing, but the explosion was heard for miles around, even across the Ohio River in Indiana. The blast shattered windows, flung debris and caused a partial structure collapse, with twelve people transported to hospitals, one of whom later died.

It was initially reported that everyone was accounted for with the twelve but later in the evening it was realized that someone was still missing. After hours of searching, they were found dead beneath the rubble, bringing the death toll to two.

Almost immediately after the explosion a shelter in place order went out for those within a mile radius of the plant, with the exception of a few blocks in the close vicinity of the factory which were evacuated due to their windows being blown out. Even after that was lifted a little before 1700 it was apparent from local media coverage that there was no chance of me getting close enough to get a shot of anything for the time being.

Headed over there first thing in the afternoon today to document the aftermath and the beginnings of the recovery.

Although the factory had a Payne Street address it was separated by an alleyway from the houses along Payne. Went down the alley as far as the fire marshals would let me, which wasn't very far since the investigation was still underway.

There were already a handful folks at the yellow tape that barred out path but they were mostly just looking on. Two were standing off to themselves, talking and crying quietly.

They'd been in the office of the factory when it blew up and seemed to be trying to wrap their heads around what had just happened.

Made my way over to Payne Street next, found less people working on windows and more packing up their things. One household was kind enough to let me take photos in their yard as they prepared to be displaced.

Their house was directly across the alleyway from the factory and had suffered considerable damage. Sheets of metal hanging from trees, a suspicious odor hanging in the air, a dark oily substance on much of the debris, downed power lines, it was all bad. Luckily no one was home when it happened, saved by the random errand.

The cause of the explosion is still unknown but the ATF is sending a team to reconstruct what happened.

In the meantime, the reconstruction of the damage has already begun.

That's just about all I know for now, will post more when we get more information. Until next time, y'all stay safe out there.