At the Exxon refinery in Baton Rouge, a 1989 Christmas Eve Day explosion took the lives of three people. Eight storage tanks, holding more than four million gallons of oil and lubricants, exploded after a cold snap caused a pressure buildup in the tanks. The blast shattered office windows in the downtown area, and aftershocks were felt more than forty miles away. Sam Kittner’s photograph shows the close proximity of the state capital and its population to the large refinery.