ST. BERNARD PARISH - Ask the residents who live across the street from the Chalmette Refinery and they’ll tell you the plant impacts their lives almost daily.
Some residents describe always breathing in the smell of chemicals. Others mention ash falls from the sky and covers their cars.
“It’s the noise, the smoke, the fire, the smells,” resident Samantha Lewis said.
Lewis has lived down the road from the refinery for the last seven years. She thinks the pollution from the refinery is making her whole family sick.
“If it’s not you, it’s your grandchildren,” Lewis said. “You’re always sick.”
Last night, flames erupted into the air at the refinery. A refinery spokesperson, Elizabeth Frost, says everything at the plant was working as it was supposed to work, but residents watched the flares in fear.
“There’s always something going on over there and last night it was real scary,” Lewis said, who heard loud booms Saturday night and went outside to see flames shooting into the air.
“We apologize for any inconvenience the flaring caused to our neighbors," Frost said.
She also said the refinery notified local officials and agencies about the flaring event and posted about it on the St. Bernard Parish Facebook page. While Frost assured Eyewitness News the flaring event was routine, Lewis has had enough.
“I'm just trying to find me a better safe place to live,” Lewis said. “I just have to get away from the refinery.”
Until that day, she says she'll continue to feel sick and she'll continue to live in fear.
The refinery spokesperson says a flaring event, like the one that happened Saturday night, is a safety device and everything worked as it was supposed to.