GOEX is located there, along with another company or two.
Apparently it is one of the other companies. The article does lists the explosions/fires suffered at the plant, a number of them are GOEX's.
www.shreveporttimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060824/BREAKINGNEWS/60824007
DOYLINE -- DOYLINE -- Light rain is falling on Camp Minden, where massive explosions still are happening. But authorities are unsure what impact the precipitation is having on the fire that is causing the blasts that have prompted highway and school closures.
"We have got everyone pulled back. We have no visibility of that area," said Lt. Col. Carl Thompson, assistant camp commander at Camp Minden.
Authorities have closed Interstate 20 and U.S. Highway 80 in Webster Parish near the former Louisiana Army Ammunition Plant, now the Louisiana National Guard's Camp Minden. And hundreds of students have been evacuated as a precaution.
I-20 is closed between the Goodwill Road and Dixie Inn exits, as is U.S. Highway 80. Traffic must turn north on Goodwill Road and on U.S. Highway 371, formerly state Highway 7, and detour back to open stretches of the main highways by way of state roads 528 and 157, Louisiana state police Troop G said.
The explosions at the Explo Systems site earlier forced the evacuation of hundreds of students from Doyline High and Union Elementary schools and hundreds of inmates from Bayou Dorcheat Correctional Center.
Thompson said the first blast occurred about 8:30 a.m. Emergency personnel were called, access to the site was closed and thick black smoke was visible, he said.
The first blast occurred in a section of the plant formerly known as the E-line, and is in the southeast section of the sprawling camp near state Highway 164, close to the village of Doyline. According to published reports, Explo Systems performs munitions and explosive reclamation.
In the nearly three hours since then, a series of explosions have continued to drumbeat the area, with two much louder blasts occurring around 10:40 a.m.
Times reporter Adam Kealoha Causey said he has heard at least 10 blasts -- "three or four large ones and at least six smaller ones."
And Pamela Carden, who has lived across U.S. Highway 80 from the site's main gate for 17 years, said she had heard at least 25 explosions as of 11 a.m. "This is the worst I have seen." Carden and relatives who came to check on her have since been ordered out of the area.
Just after 11 a.m., only emergency personnel remained near the blast site and they were a mile from the scene, Thompson said.
"Everyone's accounted for," he said. That includes inmates at the Bayou Dorcheat facility, a 340-bed minimum- to maximum-security prison facility that opened in 2002.
Caddo Sheriff Steve Prator said he's sent 35 deputies to Webster Parish to assist with prisoner transportation. Prator also has sent 15 transport vans and a mobile command center to help during the emergency.
One person experienced heat exhaustion, but Thompson said there have been "no significant injuries" from the blasts. An ambulance has left the scene, but there were no reports on who or what it transported from the area.
The initial explosion was felt as far away as the Webster School Board office in Minden, according to Webster schools superintendent Wayne “Butch” Williams.
Windows were broken at some residences in Doyline, and parts of Camp Minden are being evacuated to a nearby gas station.
Bossier sheriff's deputies are stopping people at the Bossier-Webster parish line, Bossier sheriff's spokesman Ed Baswell said.
"There are no problems at Bossier Parish schools, and we are not evacuating any," Baswell said. "Our deputies are trying to keep people from going into the area. And we are assisting the Webster Parish sheriff's office with anything that's needed. We have dispatched six deputies to the Doyline area. Anything they need us to do, we will do."
PAST EXPLOSIONS
Though rare, explosions have happened at the site at the cost of many lives. This morning’s explosion is at least the third incident at Camp Minden in the past two months.
Here are known past explosions:
Aug. 14: Fire destroys a building at Valentec Systems' flare-assembly plant. No injuries are reported, though two firefighters battling blaze suffer from heat exhaustion.
July 15: Fire and "small explosion" cause no injuries at Goex black powder facility.
Nov. 3, 2004: Goex explosion, no injuries.
Oct. 31, 2001: Goex explosion injures two employees and causes $2.5 million in damage.
Jan. 25, 2000: Goex flash fire and explosion burn one employee.
Nov. 5, 1998: Goex explosion kills one worker.
Aug. 16, 1968: Six killed, nine injured when blast destroys entire government-run "F" line and facilities. Blast can be felt eight miles away.
Jan. 22, 1963: Testing ground explosion kills one person at government-run plant.
July 31, 1962: Assembly line explosion kills three, injures six.
Nov. 27, 1942: "Area F" shipping room shell explosion kills five, injures one.
Note : Camp Minden is the old name prior to Louisiana Army Ammunition Plant. The Government no longer directly manufactures there now. The facilities are leased out to different companies.
Apparently it is one of the other companies. The article does lists the explosions/fires suffered at the plant, a number of them are GOEX's.
www.shreveporttimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060824/BREAKINGNEWS/60824007
DOYLINE -- DOYLINE -- Light rain is falling on Camp Minden, where massive explosions still are happening. But authorities are unsure what impact the precipitation is having on the fire that is causing the blasts that have prompted highway and school closures.
"We have got everyone pulled back. We have no visibility of that area," said Lt. Col. Carl Thompson, assistant camp commander at Camp Minden.
Authorities have closed Interstate 20 and U.S. Highway 80 in Webster Parish near the former Louisiana Army Ammunition Plant, now the Louisiana National Guard's Camp Minden. And hundreds of students have been evacuated as a precaution.
I-20 is closed between the Goodwill Road and Dixie Inn exits, as is U.S. Highway 80. Traffic must turn north on Goodwill Road and on U.S. Highway 371, formerly state Highway 7, and detour back to open stretches of the main highways by way of state roads 528 and 157, Louisiana state police Troop G said.
The explosions at the Explo Systems site earlier forced the evacuation of hundreds of students from Doyline High and Union Elementary schools and hundreds of inmates from Bayou Dorcheat Correctional Center.
Thompson said the first blast occurred about 8:30 a.m. Emergency personnel were called, access to the site was closed and thick black smoke was visible, he said.
The first blast occurred in a section of the plant formerly known as the E-line, and is in the southeast section of the sprawling camp near state Highway 164, close to the village of Doyline. According to published reports, Explo Systems performs munitions and explosive reclamation.
In the nearly three hours since then, a series of explosions have continued to drumbeat the area, with two much louder blasts occurring around 10:40 a.m.
Times reporter Adam Kealoha Causey said he has heard at least 10 blasts -- "three or four large ones and at least six smaller ones."
And Pamela Carden, who has lived across U.S. Highway 80 from the site's main gate for 17 years, said she had heard at least 25 explosions as of 11 a.m. "This is the worst I have seen." Carden and relatives who came to check on her have since been ordered out of the area.
Just after 11 a.m., only emergency personnel remained near the blast site and they were a mile from the scene, Thompson said.
"Everyone's accounted for," he said. That includes inmates at the Bayou Dorcheat facility, a 340-bed minimum- to maximum-security prison facility that opened in 2002.
Caddo Sheriff Steve Prator said he's sent 35 deputies to Webster Parish to assist with prisoner transportation. Prator also has sent 15 transport vans and a mobile command center to help during the emergency.
One person experienced heat exhaustion, but Thompson said there have been "no significant injuries" from the blasts. An ambulance has left the scene, but there were no reports on who or what it transported from the area.
The initial explosion was felt as far away as the Webster School Board office in Minden, according to Webster schools superintendent Wayne “Butch” Williams.
Windows were broken at some residences in Doyline, and parts of Camp Minden are being evacuated to a nearby gas station.
Bossier sheriff's deputies are stopping people at the Bossier-Webster parish line, Bossier sheriff's spokesman Ed Baswell said.
"There are no problems at Bossier Parish schools, and we are not evacuating any," Baswell said. "Our deputies are trying to keep people from going into the area. And we are assisting the Webster Parish sheriff's office with anything that's needed. We have dispatched six deputies to the Doyline area. Anything they need us to do, we will do."
PAST EXPLOSIONS
Though rare, explosions have happened at the site at the cost of many lives. This morning’s explosion is at least the third incident at Camp Minden in the past two months.
Here are known past explosions:
Aug. 14: Fire destroys a building at Valentec Systems' flare-assembly plant. No injuries are reported, though two firefighters battling blaze suffer from heat exhaustion.
July 15: Fire and "small explosion" cause no injuries at Goex black powder facility.
Nov. 3, 2004: Goex explosion, no injuries.
Oct. 31, 2001: Goex explosion injures two employees and causes $2.5 million in damage.
Jan. 25, 2000: Goex flash fire and explosion burn one employee.
Nov. 5, 1998: Goex explosion kills one worker.
Aug. 16, 1968: Six killed, nine injured when blast destroys entire government-run "F" line and facilities. Blast can be felt eight miles away.
Jan. 22, 1963: Testing ground explosion kills one person at government-run plant.
July 31, 1962: Assembly line explosion kills three, injures six.
Nov. 27, 1942: "Area F" shipping room shell explosion kills five, injures one.
Note : Camp Minden is the old name prior to Louisiana Army Ammunition Plant. The Government no longer directly manufactures there now. The facilities are leased out to different companies.
