Explosion sends black smoke into air above Mississippi plant

Just after 7 a.m. on Wednesday, a large plume of black smoke rose from the Loveland Products plant in Greenville, Miss., following an explosion at the chemical facility. Emergency crews received notification of the incident within minutes of the event.

Greenville is a city of roughly 26,000 residents located in the Mississippi Delta region, approximately 120 miles northwest of the state capital, Jackson. The plant, which manufactures fertilizer and crop protection products, is operated by Loveland, a subsidiary of Nutrien.

Sara Moreland Hester, a deputy emergency management director for Washington County and a local firefighter, stated that no injuries were immediately reported. By midmorning, she said the fire was under control, though it had not been fully extinguished.

City officials noted that preliminary information from plant management indicated the explosion involved a fire associated with a herbicide chemical. Nutrien confirmed that plant leadership was working alongside first responders to manage the situation.

Residents living near the plant and in areas to the east and south were instructed to shelter in place for several hours due to potentially hazardous smoke. That advisory was lifted just before noon in the rural section of the city.

The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality sent an emergency response team and an air monitoring contractor to assess potential impacts on local air quality.