By Frank Esposito
SENIOR STAFF REPORTER
Published: December 23, 2013 1:41 pm ET
Updated: December 23, 2013 2:32 pm ET
No injuries were reported Dec. 22 when a fire struck an Axiall Corp. plant making PVC feedstock in Lake Charles, La.
The fire broke out around 1:40 p.m. and was extinguished about an hour later, officials with Atlanta-based Axiall said in a Dec. 23 statement. The fire occurred in a part of the plant that made vinyl chloride monomer, a feedstock used to make PVC resin.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation. The VCM unit remains offline, with no restart date, according to company spokesman Alan Chapple. Damage from the fire is still being assessed, while the rest of the plant is operating as normal, he added.
Axiall ranks as one of North America's largest makers of PVC resins and compounds. The firm's Royal Building Products is North America's third-largest pipe profile and tubing maker, according to a recent Plastics News ranking.
Axiall was formed in mid-2012 when Georgia Gulf Corp. merged with the commodity chemicals business of PPG Industries. The firm employs 2,000 and has annual sales of about $5 billion. | 
