CONWAY, Ark. (AP) -- Dozens of people were kept from their homes Wednesday as firefighters working in freezing temperatures sprayed water on a chemical plant where a series of explosions injured two people and forced thousands to evacuate.
The explosions at the Detco Industries plant Tuesday morning shot fireballs into the sky and sent up a plume of smoke so thick it could be seen 30 miles away in Little Rock. Everyone within a mile of the plant was ordered to evacuate.
Wednesday morning, residents were still being kept from trailer homes near the plant, but schools and several businesses in the area reopened. One worker injured in the blast was hospitalized in critical condition; the other was in stable condition in a hospital burn unit.
Officials with Detco, which makes industrial chemicals and aerosol products, such as cleaners and disinfectants, said they did not know what caused the explosions.
``Detco Industries takes every safety precaution necessary to prevent these types of rare accidents from happening, and to protect all of our employees as well as the community from such hazards,'' company president Trey Elliott said.
Federal documents filed by the company show the plant had hydrofluoric acid, sulfuric acid and methanol on the premises, said Jennifer Gordon, spokeswoman for the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management.
The Department of Environmental Quality, which set up portable air monitoring stations in the area after the explosions, said it did not believe any toxic material was carried to populated areas in the town of 46,000.
``Based on the information we have from the scene, in areas outside of that evacuation area people should not be concerned about their health,'' Gordon said.
