Explosion at PCA’s DeRidder, La., Containerboard Mill Kills Three, Injures Seven
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Packaging Corp. of America (PCA), Lake Forest, Ill., USA, reports that at approximately 11:10 a.m. CST on Wednesday of this past week (Feb. 8, 2017), there was an explosion at its DeRidder, La. containerboard mill. The incident involved annual repair work being performed on piping in the pulp mill area and resulted in three contractor fatalities. The cause of the incident is under investigation.In a published statement, PCA said that "our primary concern is for the safety and well-being of the people working on our site. The top priorities at this time are the notification of families of the deceased contractors and investigation of the incident with authorities."
At the time of the incident, the D1 machine was down for its annual outage and the D3 machine was running and continues to operate. The current assessment indicates that the annual outage work is expected to be delayed by up to one week and the mill will then resume full operation. Further information will be provided, as appropriate, when it becomes available, the company said.
According to a report by TV12 News (abc) in Beaumont, Texas, in addition to the three fatalities, seven people were injured in the explosion. The report said that the three killed (as identified by the Beauregard Parish Sheriff's Office) were: Jody L. Gooch, 40, of Newton County; William Rolls Jr., 32, of Louisiana; and Sedrick Stallworth, 42. Of the seven injured, six suffered minor and one suffered moderate injuries.
The TV12 report noted that the explosion occurred when a 25-ft.-tall tank containing "foul condensate" exploded.
The plant was formerly owned by Boise and was acquired by PCA in 2013.
