Blast Feared as Fire Devours North Carolina Fertilizer Plant

(Bloomberg) -- A fire at a fertilizer plant in Winston-Salem, North Carolina is prompting officials to urge nearby residents to evacuate due to the risk of an explosion.

Winston Weaver Co.'s Winston-Salem fertilizer plant, which manufactures highly flammable ammonium nitrate, caught fire Monday night. The facility has about 5,000 tons of finished fertilizer and 500 tons of the chemical compound inside, plus another 100 tons of ammonia nitrate in a rail car beside the building, fire chief Trey Mayo said Tuesday at a news conference. About 6,000 people living within a mile of the plant have been told to evacuate.

Ammonium nitrate has been behind deadly explosions in recent years, including an August 2020 blast that devastated Beirut's port after nearly 3,000 tons of the stored chemical compound ignited, killing at least 135 people and wounding thousands. A Texas plant that had about 200 tons of the material exploded in April 2013, killing 15 people and damaging more than 150 structures across a 35-block area.

“We have at least three times as much product on hand here as they had in west Texas,” Mayo said in a news conference. “I don't know how much more compelling I can be to try to make people understand the seriousness of this situation.”

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The fire comes at an already tumultuous time for fertilizer markets as farmers face sky-high retail prices, bolstered by a variety of issues including plant closures and a natural gas crunch in Europe. Farmers looking to purchase crop nutrients for spring planting are worried that they won't be able to afford the amount they need.

The U.S. fertilizer-grade ammonium nitrate market is relatively small by volume -- about 3% of total U.S. nitrogen consumption, according to Bloomberg's Green Markets.

Winston-Salem's situation expected to go well beyond 36 hours so officials can ensure the chemicals cool down, according to the city's fire department. Though still volatile, the fire is behaving the way officials want it to -- without an explosion. Officials want the fire to burn through all the material and run out of fuel, Mayo said.

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Winston Weaver did not respond to requests for comment, though company representative Andrew Carroll said in a video statement that all employees are safe and the organization will continue to work with first responders during the next few days.

The federal Chemical Safety Board hasn't dispatched anyone, though they “continue to follow-up on the event,” spokeswoman Hillary Cohen said. North Carolina Occupational Safety and Health Division sent workers to the scene Tuesday, a spokesperson said.

Meanwhile, Winston-Salem Mayor Allen Joines said in a separate news conference that the evacuation order will probably be kept in place for awhile, given concerns about noxious air and fumes coming from the site.