Operations & Training

Explosion at Louisville, KY, Plant Leaves Two Dead

Nov. 13, 2024

Louisville firefighters reported nearly a dozen workers were injured and multiple buildings were damaged.

Editor's Note: Two employees were killed in the explosion and collapse.

Karla Ward

Lexington Herald-Leader

(TNS)

An explosion at a plant in Louisville Tuesday afternoon left multiple people injured and damaged surrounding buildings, according to media reports.

A shelter-in-place order was issued for a one-mile radius around the Givaudan Sense Colour facility at 1901 Payne Street, but the order had been lifted by about 5 p.m., according to a Facebook post by Louisville Metro Emergency Services.

The agency said an evacuation order for the two surrounding blocks in the city neighborhood of Clifton was still in place.

At least 11 employees were injured in the explosion, the Associated Press reported. Two of them were in critical condition, according to WLKY.

Multiple homes and businesses were damaged, including a coffee company that had its windows blown out, according to Louisville Business First.

Givaudan Sense Colour produces coloring for food and drinks from natural sources, according to the company’s website.

The Louisville office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said in a post on the social media platform X that its agents had responded and were helping with the “critical incident.”

The cause of the blast was not immediately known.