Explosion, fire rock Marathon Petroleum oil refinery in Louisiana; 1 worker injured

An explosion rocked a Louisiana oil refinery Monday, shaking homes and businesses as firefighters raced to douse the resulting blaze.

One person was injured after the blast, heard for miles around, around 9:30 a.m. local time at the refinery in Garyville, Marathon Petroleum said in a statement. Video showed smoke billowing from the site. Garyville is about 40 miles west of New Orleans and 50 miles southeast of Baton Rouge.

"The fire has been controlled, and all employees and contract workers have been accounted for," company spokesman Joe Gannon said in an email to USA TODAY. "One contract worker sustained an injury and is currently being evaluated at a local health care facility as a precaution."

Air monitoring was deployed in the community, and emergency responders were notified, Gannon said.

"The safety of responders, employees, contractors and the community are our top priority," he said.

The state Department of Environmental Quality said some of the refinery was placed under a shelter-in-place order, and some workers were moved to a closed area to avoid contamination.

St. John the Baptist Parish Sheriff Mike Tregre's office posted a warning to residents on Facebook: "Please avoid the area of west Airline Highway and Marathon Avenue in Garyville due to officials working an incident." At around 10:25 a.m., Tregre gave the all-clear and roads were reopened.

The explosion and the fire were contained on Marathon property, Tregre said.

The refinery, on the banks of the Mississippi River, has a crude oil refining capacity of 578,000 barrels per day, according to the company's website. A major expansion project was completed in 2009 that increased Garyville’s crude oil refining capacity, making it one of the largest refineries in the USA.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Louisiana Marathon oil refinery explosion rocks Garyville; 1 injured