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Chemical Plant That Caught Fire After Hurricane Lays Off Workers

Chemical Plant That Exploded After Hurricane Lays Off Workers

A chemical plant that caught fire after Hurricane Laura ripped through Louisiana is laying off about 100 employees as it undergoes an extensive rebuild, deepening the economic pain from the region’s most powerful storm in more than a century.

The BioLab facility owned by KIK Custom Products “is now inoperable and requires necessary repairs,” the company said in an emailed statement. “We are fully committed to rebuilding the facility in Lake Charles, and we hope to rehire impacted employees once operations resume.”

BioLab will honor all terms of its collective bargaining agreement with employees, it said, without giving details.

The plant, which makes chemicals used in swimming pools and toilets, caught fire after Laura tore through the Lake Charles area in August. The storm came ashore as a Category 4 hurricane, snapping power lines and crumbling cinderblock.

The BioLab plant had been shut down and evacuated prior to Laura’s landfall, and all employees were safely accounted for, the company said at the time. The day after the fire, the U.S. Chemical Safety Board said it was sending a team to the site to examine the incident.

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.