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Time lapse drone video of the Winston Weaver fertilizer plant fire at sunset
Months after firefighters brought a potentially explosive blaze at the Winston Weaver fertilizer plant under control, all that remains on the site is a carefully graded mound of clay-laden soil resembling a loaf of pumpkin bread, and a slurry of muddy water trapped by a rock berm.
On a recent morning, a pair of workers from Bridger Drilling used a machine to drive metal tubes of varying lengths beneath the surface to collect soil at different depths.
Their work was part of a contractor's months-long process to identify metals, chemicals and other substances that remain as unseen legacies of the facility’s more than 80 years of operation.
A drone aerial image of the Winston Weaver fertilizer plant site.
After completing a preliminary environmental assessment for Winston Weaver in May, Montrose Engineering and Geology laid out its plans in a 71-page document approved in July by the N.C. Department of Environmental Control’s Inactive Hazardous Sites Branch.
The work will determine the extent and potential expense of work needed to remove contaminants.
A Montrose spokesman said the contractor will not discuss the project until work is completed at the site.
Because the Environmental Protection Agency responded to the fire on an emergency basis to monitor air and water quality, the Weaver property is on the EPA's list of so-called Superfund sites as defined by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act.
Workers from Bridger Drilling collect soil at the site of the former Winston Weaver Co. fertilizer plant, which was destroyed by a fire that started Jan. 31 and burned for days. A contractor hired by the company is analyzing hundreds of samples for potentially hazardous materials to determine the level of environmental contamination.
The law, passed by Congress in 1980, created a tax on the chemical and petroleum industries, and gave the federal government broad authority to respond directly to releases of hazardous substances that are a threat to public health or the environment.
But the Weaver property has not been added to the EPA's National Priorities List of properties where long-term removal of dangerous contaminants and ongoing monitoring are required.
If city or county officials aren't satisfied with the company's cleanup efforts, they likely would recommend additional remediation at the site overseen by the EPA or N.C. Department of Environmental Quality, said former EPA Deputy Administrator Stan Meiburg, who now leads Wake Forest University’s graduate program in sustainability.
If the contamination is severe enough, the property could be designated as a Superfund priority site.
An excavator pulls down parts of the remaining structure at the site of the Winston Weaver Co. fertilizer plant fire, Feb. 4.
"I don’t want to overstate my knowledge of the site, but my guess is that outcome is unlikely," Meiburg said.
If local officials are satisfied, the EPA would give the Weaver property a "No Further Remedial Action Proposed" designation, clearing it for potential redevelopment, he added.
Montrose said in its approved plan that it would install five wells at the site to test groundwater 20 to 30 feet underground, and collect and analyze more than 500 soil samples.
During and shortly after the fire, high levels of arsenic, cadmium, chromium, lead and mercury were detected, according to the contractor. And based on its initial assessment, Montrose said it would look specifically for concentrations of volatile organic compounds, ammonia, nitrate, nitrite, phosphates and metals.
Montrose revealed that it identified contaminants including “waste fluids from the demolition of the former fertilizer production building” and was informed by Winston Weaver that “paints and flammable liquids are among the hazardous waste fluids onsite.”
The plan also noted that a 550-gallon diesel fuel tank and 6,000-gallon tank storing a “petroleum-based coating for the fertilizer products” were “known to have been present on the site.”
In July, the North Carolina Department of Labor Investigation levied fines totaling $5,600 on Winston Weaver for improperly storing 500 tons of ammonium nitrate, a common ingredient in fertilizer that also is used as an explosive for mining and other commercial purposes.
Investigators also determined that wooden storage bins at the Weaver facility were not adequate to keep ammonium nitrate from escaping or other substances from entering.
The potential volatility of the Weaver fire led to a voluntary evacuation affecting about 6,000 residents as blinding smoke engulfed portions of the city. At one point, an EPA monitoring device measured air particulate levels seven times higher than what the agency deems “hazardous.”
More than 4.2 million gallons of water was used over several days to suppress the fire, sending chemical-laden runoff into Monarcus and Mill creeks, killing fish and prompting the city to issue an alert encouraging residents to avoid those waters.
A fire hose is hooked up to a fire hydrant across the street from the structure fire at Winston Weaver plant Feb. 1.
As of mid-May, 36,000 gallons of water — trapped by the berm installed at the fire site — had been stored, tested and eventually hauled away, Winston-Salem Field Operations Director Keith Huff told members of the city council’s public works committee at the time.
Multiple lawsuits have been filed against Winston Weaver on behalf of affected residents. Officials have not determined a cause of the fire.
Less than a week after the Weaver fire ignited, city officials delivered a stern directive ordering the company to move exposed material at an offsite storage facility just a few blocks away where rain-induced runoff contaminated a nearby creek.
A hand-delivered letter informed the company it must “immediately cease and desist the illegal discharge of fertilizer-laden runoff” at the second site.
An excavator pulls down parts of the remaining structure at the site of the Winston Weaver Co. fertilizer plant fire, Feb. 4.
Piles of material remained exposed to the elements two days later as freezing rain fell and a steady stream of white liquid flowed from the facility, down a long driveway, into the street then down a storm drain that feeds Monarcas Creek.
The city announced a week later Weaver had complied with the order, and the company eventually abandoned the facility.
Winston Weaver Co. has abandoned an open-air facility at 4020 Brownsboro where runoff contaminated a nearby creek after stored materials were exposed to rain days after fire destroyed the company’s fertilizer plant two blocks away.
Smoke blankets the area near Reynolda Road at Wake Forest Road, Feb. 1, as the Winston Weaver Co. fertilizer plant continued to burn.
John Deem covers climate change and the environment in the Triad and Northwest North Carolina. His work is funded by a grant from the 1Earth Fund and the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation.
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Time lapse drone video of the Winston Weaver fertilizer plant fire at sunset
A drone aerial image of the Winston Weaver fertilizer plant site.
Workers from Bridger Drilling collect soil at the site of the former Winston Weaver Co. fertilizer plant, which was destroyed by a fire that started Jan. 31 and burned for days. A contractor hired by the company is analyzing hundreds of samples for potentially hazardous materials to determine the level of environmental contamination.
Smoke blankets the area near Reynolda Road at Wake Forest Road, Feb. 1, as the Winston Weaver Co. fertilizer plant continued to burn.
A fire hose is hooked up to a fire hydrant across the street from the structure fire at Winston Weaver plant Feb. 1.
Winston Weaver Co. has abandoned an open-air facility at 4020 Brownsboro where runoff contaminated a nearby creek after stored materials were exposed to rain days after fire destroyed the company’s fertilizer plant two blocks away.
An excavator pulls down parts of the remaining structure at the site of the Winston Weaver Co. fertilizer plant fire, Feb. 4.
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