Four people were critically injured in an explosion at a New Jersey cocoa butter processing facility on Wednesday afternoon in a blast that could be felt an entire state away.
Police responded to dozens of frantic calls about an explosion that tore through a Savita Naturals factory in Logan Township, New Jersey just after 2:30 p.m. Wednesday.
Four people, including the owner of the facility, were hospitalized in critical condition, Action News reported.
The family-run facility mainly processes cocoa butter, but also produces CBD oil, and seed oils.
A person related to a Savita Naturals employee told the outlet that while the company is primarily tasked with extracting oils using liquid propane, it also uses ethanol — both of which are highly flammable.
Over 7,000 residents living within a few miles of the factory felt or heard the explosion, with many sharing footage of their homes being shaken by the force of the boom. The vibrations even stretched across the river into Delaware County, Pennsylvania — just over 15 miles away from the Savita Natural location.
A shelter-in-place order was issued for a two-mile radius around the explosion site as firefighters spent hours slowly dousing the resulting inferno. The order was lifted around 5 p.m.
The “terrible tragedy” is easily “the largest industrial accident,” Logan Township Police Chief Joseph Flatley said he could recall in his 25 years with the police department.
Workers in neighboring buildings on the property, which were also damaged, heard and felt the blast but had no idea what had happened until they ran outside.
“I heard a really loud boom – it shook our whole building. You could feel it go through you. I thought maybe someone hit our building,” James Barber told the outlet.
David Elze, who works on a separate property near the Savita Natural grounds, told CBS News Philadelphia that he surmised lightning struck the building — until he walked outside and saw 30-foot flames spouting out of the facility.
Eric Brunhammer, who works less than a mile away from the facility, told the publication that he thought “something tried to come through the wall,” sending people fleeing outside in a panic.
A county spokesperson confirmed that all the employees at the facility were accounted for.
New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill said that her office is “actively supporting with resource coordination and will continue to monitor the situation to ensure the safety of residents and support those impacted.”
Long after the flames were extinguished, fire and hazmat crews remained on site to monitor the burnoff of additional fuel stored at the facility. Air quality is also being monitored.
The incident is still under investigation. It’s unclear what sparked the explosion.
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