Plant blast shakes county

EAST FLAT ROCK -- A loud explosion Tuesday startled Delma Reynolds as she stood in her driveway.

Minutes later her Roper Road neighborhood was flooded with fire engines and emergency personnel.

The explosion Reynolds heard happened at 3:15 p.m. at the Greenleaf Corp. building at 761 Roper Road about a mile from her home.

The explosion was in a business formerly known as Nucermet Inc., but now is the Greenleaf Corp. Greenleaf is a maker of ceramic cutting tools, according to emergency personnel on the scene.

"I was having my driveway paved," Reynolds said. "Then I heard this terrible big explosion that was shaking the whole house. I saw all of the emergency vehicles lining up the road, but I didn't know what was going on."

It wasn't until her husband called her later that afternoon that she learned there was a chemical fire, she said.

Three workers at the plant were inside at the time of the accident, but were safely evacuated and were not injured.

Henderson County Emergency Management Coordinator Rocky Hyder said the explosion involved the chemical hexane, which is made from crude oil used in laboratories and mixed with other chemicals to produce solvents.

"Hexane has a low flash point, which means it is easily ignited," Hyder said. "This chemical was used in Greenleaf's daily process. Now, we are investigating to see what happened and caused the explosion."

Hyder said the investigation should be completed today.

Representatives from Greenleaf did not wish to comment on the explosion, Hyder said.

Emergency workers evacuate anyone within 1,000 feet of Greenleaf, but only warned those outside of the 1,000 feet and issued a voluntary evacuation for those residents.

Hyder said 15 percent of the Greenleaf building was burned and the fire was extinguished by 3:45 p.m.

Valley Hill firefighter Alan Shaver said when he approached Greenleaf the fire was almost out.

"We went in and made our way to where the explosion occurred," Shaver said. "We extinguished a small fire still burning and made sure everything that was smoldering was put out."

Shaver, along with eight other firefighters, were decontaminated after leaving Greenleaf. The firefighters were brushed down by members of the Henderson County Rescue Squad as they were sprayed with water from a fire truck.

Along with the Rescue Squad, the Blue Ridge Fire Department, Valley Hill Fire Department, Saluda Fire Department, Green River Fire Department, Dana Fire Department, EMS, Fire Marshal's Office and the Rescue Squad State Medical Assistance Team (SMAT) participated.