Ravenel, S.C.-A fire of still undetermined origin destroyed a large fertilizer warehouse and threatened another as big or bigger here the afternoon of Aug. 2. St. Paul Fire District Chief Doc Matthews said the warehouse was completely involved by the time crews arrived on the scene at Carolina Eastern-Moloney and were soon joined by others from a half dozen nearby departments, plus a volunteer rescue unit. “It was a wall of fire. You’re talking about a pretty large structure being totally involved,” reported Matthews. He said crews were hampered from accessing the second building by the flames and by having to work from data in an MSDS book. “I still don’t know exactly all the chemicals in that building,” he told Green Markets. “It probably included all types of fertilizer, including ammonium nitrate.” Matthews said there were no injuries because the buildings were empty over the weekend, but at least two firefighters were treated for heat exhaustion. He said fire crews were on the premises through the night even after the scene was secured. Responsibility for determining the cause has been turned over to the State Law Enforcement Division and the State Dept. of Health and Environmental Control. At last word they were still waiting to inspect the ruins, which amounted to only a burned-out shell. Matt Bunch, president of Carolina Eastern-Moloney, had not returned calls at press time; however, he told the local press there wasn’t any concern about chemical fumes causing environmental problems even though some residents were warned to stay inside for a short time. He said he plans to rebuild the burned-out portions of the bulk fertilizer blending business, which was started in 1972 and was sold to the current owners in 1992.
Transparency Across the Fertilizer Value-Chain