Officials in a North Carolina city have confirmed that firefighters responded to a call in late December about a fire at a fertilizer plant where, weeks later, an explosion and uncontrolled flames would force thousands to flee their homes.
Winston-Salem City Manager Lee Garrity confirmed Friday that someone called about a fire at the Winston Weaver fertilizer plant on Dec. 26, and that the fire department responded, but added that he had no other details about the incident, the Winston-Salem Journal reported.
Garrity said Friday the city will release details of the December call as soon as they research it and compile the information.
A Winston-Salem police cruiser sits across from the site of the Winston Weaver Co. fertilizer plant fire on Friday, Feb. 4, 2022, in Winston-Salem, N.C. Crews have begun the cleanup process at the site. (Allison Lee IsleyThe Winston-Salem Journal via AP)
Rick McIntyre is the lead investigator on the massive fertilizer plant fire that started Monday night. In a Thursday morning briefing, McIntyre said Winston Weaver Co. has had minor fires “within the past couple years.” He said those occurred in electrical equipment. McIntyre did not mention a December fire.
Officials on Thursday also said that the explosion threat from the fire had “greatly diminished” since much of a combustible chemical had burned off, allowing firefighters to return to the site to spray down what’s left.
Residents living in the vicinity of the fire suspected the December fire was a precursor of the most recent event.
A Winston-Salem firefighter mans a hose atop a ladder truck at the Winston Weaver Co. fertilizer plant fire, Friday, Feb. 4, 2022. Cleanup has begun at the site while parts of the plant are still on fire. (Walt UnksThe Winston-Salem Journal via AP)
“It was just like what we’re smelling now,” said Jarrod Whitaker, who lives near the plant.
When they learned about the potential for a massive explosion at the plant, Whitaker and Wilson Somerville, another nearby resident, exchanged texts in which they recalled the December fire. Somerville said he wants to know if there's a link between the fire on Dec. 26 and the much larger one on Monday.
“As you can imagine, I and other neighbors wish a very thorough investigation not only of the current fire, but of the previous fire, and given the two fires, a thorough check of whether there was an issue at the plant that had been going on a while,” Somerville wrote in an email.
On Saturday, Winston-Salem city leaders warned the public to stay out of creeks downstream from the plant and to keep pets and other animals out of the creeks due to elevated levels of chemicals in the water resulting from the fire.