At the time a North Carolina fertilizer plant caught fire earlier this week, it housed enough ammonium nitrate to ignite “one of the worst explosions in U.S. history," according to an article from CBS News. Residents who live near the Winston Weaver Company Fertilizer plant in Winston-Salem were reportedly advised to leave their homes for an “undetermined” amount of time until the explosion threat subsides.
Fire broke out at the facility at around 6:30 p.m. on Monday. There were reportedly about 600 tons of ammonium nitrate and 5,000 tons of finished fertilizer at the facility. Ammonium nitrate at high temperatures can create a toxic brew of nitrogen oxide and ammonia, the chemical compound that triggered the fatal 2020 Beirut port explosion and a 2013 blast at a fertilizer plant in Texas that killed 14 people and injured nearly 200 others, according to CBS.
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