CHARLOTTE, N.C. — People in one of North Carolina’s largest cities are being warned to wear a mask in public, as the noxious plume from a fertilizer plant fire continues to spread.
Video shared on Facebook shows the smoke — which smells like “spent fireworks” — is thick enough to limit visibility on roads in some parts of Winston-Salem.
“Air quality bad today! Recommend that you wear a mask! Stay Safe!” the city posted Wednesday, Feb. 2.
The Environmental Protection Agency is monitoring air quality and the city reports “all levels have been in acceptable range.”
However, smoke from the smoldering Weaver Fertilizer plant remains dangerous, experts say.
People with asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and respiratory illnesses are being told to stay indoors. And otherwise healthy people are warned to avoid “outdoor activity in and near the smoke plume.”
The plant and the volatile chemicals it stores caught fire around 6:30 p.m. Jan. 31, forcing the city to evacuate 6,500 residents within a one-mile radius.
It’s believed the plant is storing 600 tons of ammonium nitrate, which could become unstable and explode at any time, city officials said.
“There is ammonium nitrate there that is burning,” Division Chief Bobby Wade of the Winston-Salem Fire Department said at a news conference.
“There’s building construction materials that are burning. Due to the large fire, there’s multiple things burning. ... It’s hard to say specifically what is still burning, but all of it is very hazardous. ... It’s unsafe for anyone to be on that site right now.”
It remains unclear when evacuees will be able to safely return to their homes around the plant, officials said.
Conditions at the plant did not improved overnight, which is keeping emergency responders off the scene.
Cold temperatures Tuesday into Wednesday morning also forced the smoke to settle closer to the ground, Wade said.
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