A Feb. 28 fire at the Nutrien Ag Solutions facility in Sunnyside, Wash., in the Yakima Valley, destroyed a 13,000-square-foot storage building at the site and prompted the evacuation of residents within a half-mile radius of the plant, according to the Tri-City Herald.
The evacuation order was issued about 4:45 p.m. after the fire was first reported shortly after 1 p.m., according to Yakima Valley Emergency Management. Approximately 18 homes, along with nearby industrial facilities, were evacuated due to hazardous smoke from the fire. An evacuation center was established at the Sunnyside Community Center.
At a press conference at the scene, Sunnyside Fire Chief Ken Anderson said the building contained 1.75 million pounds of “mixed components for fertilizer,” including sulfate of potash, muriate of potash, MESZ, ammonium sulfate, urea, and boron. Also near the building were tanks filled with what Anderson described as sodium thiosulfate. One tank was damaged and leaked all but 25 percent of its 30,000-gallon contents, but the fertilizer was contained in a spill area.
“I think probably the most dangerous chemical in there was ammonium sulfate,” Anderson said. “There was 236,000 pounds of that. We believe that that actually burned off early on in the fire, however.” After the fire was extinguished, Anderson said attention was then focused on containing runoff from the site.
The blaze destroyed the storage building at the corner of the facility and damaged others, the Tri-City Herald reported. No injuries were reported to employees or fire crews at the scene. Crews from Zillah, Granger, Sunnyside, Grandview, Yakima County Fire District No. 5, Toppenish, Prosser, and West Benton Fire & Rescue responded to the scene through mutual aid agreements.
Anderson said the cause of the fire has yet to be determined, but workers at the plant reportedly identified a smoldering supply of sulfur – part of approximately 200 tons of sulfur at the site – that had been unloaded in a concrete bin in the building earlier in the day.
“Before they could mitigate the scenario, they backed out, did their recon, and before they could come up with a game plan that would include the public works department and the port authority, the building caught fire,” Anderson said. “Within minutes, they said it was largely involved.”
Nutrien Ag Solutions has owned the 13-acre Sunnyside site since 2018, with construction on the dry and liquid storage structures beginning later that year, according to a Port of Sunnyside press release. Roughly 15-20 employees work at the location.
“Nutrien thanks the first responders that helped contain the fire at our warehouse in Sunnyside, Wash.,” Nutrien said in a statement to Green Markets. “The fertilizer involved in the fire is used by growers to enrich their soil and optimize yields. It is inert and not inherently hazardous. Fortunately, no employees or first responders were injured in the containment process.”
Nutrien said it will conduct an investigation into the cause of fire. “We will also strive to support our employees, the community where we operate, and the customers who are relying on us for products heading into the spring planting season,” the company said.