Families Evacuated After Chemical Fire in Louisiana Allowed Home

Almost a week after a massive fire in a Denham Springs, La., chemical warehouse drove them out, all families evacuated are being allowed back home.

WAFB-TV reports that those affected by the fire at the Coco Resources warehouse would be allowed back home at beginning at noon on April 5.

The Livingston Parish Emergency Management director said the cause of the fire remains under investigation. Workers are still on the scene.

The huge fire broke out at the facility on March 30, rocketing 55-gallon drums into the sky, forcing the evacuation of about 200 people and pulling in about 100 firefighters.

An explosion inside the Coco Resources warehousein Denham Springs triggered the fire about 2 p.m., and two or three other buildings nearby in the industrial section also caught fire, State Fire Marshal Butch Browning said.

Over the next two hours, other barrels of chemicals exploded and smoke could be seen as far away as Baton Rouge, about 20 miles away.