No injuries reported in Monday night explosion in Jackson County

Jackson County Emergency Management Director Earl Etheridge said a fire at Enterprise Products at 6800 Stennis Blvd. in Pascagoula was under control early Tuesday morning.

Firefighters worked throughout the night to control the fire that was the result of an explosion at the natural gas plant around 11:30 p.m. Monday.

No injuries were reported as a result of the explosion.

“There were two people on the scene when it happened, but they were in a fire-proof control center and they were not injured,” Etheridge said.

The Associated Press reported the plant was once a BP plant. Rick Rainey, a spokesman for the Houston-based Enterprise Products Partners, L.P., says his company had owned 40 percent of the facility with BP owning 60 percent. Enterprise bought the plant in March and took over full ownership June 1.

First responders from the Pascagoula Fire Department, Jackson County Sheriff’s Office, Escatawpa Volunteer Fire Department, Jackson County Fire Department, Forts Lake Volunteer Fire Department, Franklin Creek Volunteer Fire Department and Acadian Ambulance assisted Etheridge’s office throughout Monday night and into Tuesday morning.

“There was no threat to the public, but some people living near the plant did evacuate voluntarily,” he said.

Amy Perez was jolted awake a little after 11:30 p.m. by the first of the explosions at the gas line near Industrial Road.

She said that at first, she thought it was one of the nearby shipyards. Sometimes they drop large pieces of steel and send vibrations through her neighborhood of Cherokee Park Forest.

But then she heard the other explosions. She said there were three. She went outside.

“I could hear the fire burning,” Perez said. “I could see the fire above the trees burning. Fire everywhere.”

She yelled and her husband came out and they figured it was the Enterprise plant by the direction of the flames.

They got in their car, and when they turned east on Ingalls Avenue, “you could see flames billowing above the trees.”

She said they filled the sky, “just shooting up in the air, well over the tree line.”

She said the eerie thing was that everything was quiet. She didn’t hear sirens right away. She was listening for sirens from responding police and fire, but heard nothing like that. It wasn’t until later that she heard any sirens.

She said emergency vehicles blocked off Industrial Road.

She said the experience left her wondering, “what kind of warning will be get when we need one?”

Etheridge said there is not immediate risk to the people of Jackson County.

“This is natural gas, so there’s no big environmental concern,” he said. “But you can’t just extinguish a natural gas fire, you have to let it burn, so we are keeping things cool and keeping the fire under control.

The cause of the explosion has not been determined. Etheridge said other agencies will be taking up the investigation.

“I’m not sure who the lead agency on the investigation will be, but I assume it will be OSHA,” he said.

This story was originally published June 28, 2016 at 8:13 AM with the headline "No injuries reported in Monday night explosion in Jackson County."