BATON ROUGE, LA (WAFB) -
It's a safety procedure that was followed, but had people in the around the North Baton Rouge area asking questions.
Tuesday afternoon, there was a loud boom at the Exxon Mobil plastics plant.
"I heard the loud boom, and the walls shook," said Ethel Coleman, lives across from Exxon Mobil Plant. "There was black smoke billowing up from over there - from the plant."
Plant manager Nic Clausi said one of the operating units at the plant heated up because of high pressure. Per procedure, the unit's safety system activated and that sparked a fire - that's the loud boom people along Highway 19 heard and saw.
"In the process of venting the unit, the material does combust on the way up the stack so that's why you see the smoke that folks on site as well as off-site may have seen," said Clausi.
The Department of Environment Quality said the plant released hundreds of pounds of a non-toxic Hydrocarbon mixture.
"The amount of gas that's been reported is about 1600 lbs. of gas, and what we're talking about here is Ethylene, Propylene and Methyl Acrylate," said DEQ's emergency response manager Peter Ricca.
Ricca said all three are flammable, but they do not pose a threat to people, which is why there were no evacuations.
In fact, neighbors across from the plant said it's nothing out of the norm for them.
"There are always loud boom sounds going off over there all through the night," said neighbor Vallery Mattire. "Sometimes the sky is lit up so light you would think it's daylight."
"Our number one priority at Exxon Mobil is the safety of the community and our workforce, and we deeply regret the inconvenience today's (Tuesday) event may have caused," said Clausi.
No injuries were reported. The plant where it took place has been shut down for now.
Exxon Mobil will write up an official report and turn that into the DEQ within the next 7 days.
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