Howard Industries in Laurel, Mississippi, has ordered employees back to work a day after a paint booth caught fire next to a tanker truck, sending massive black smoke billowing over the city.
In one video by Brandon Herford Brewer, he can be heard saying that “everybody’s gotta leave” and that he felt like “my face is melting.”
All employees evacuated safely and no one was injured, officials said. Emergency crews consisting of more than a dozen fire departments put out the fire by 8 p.m. on Monday, and the company ordered workers back the same evening.
“Night shift maintenance employees should report to work tonight as regularly scheduled,” the company’s human resources department said in a Monday night Facebook post. “Howard Industries will resume normal operations tomorrow, Tuesday, September 1, with first shift employees reporting at their regularly scheduled time.”
Howard Industries, one of Mississippi’s largest companies, produces electrical transformers, medical equipment and other products. Its Jones County facility covers over 2 million square feet.
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