Macon, Ill.-The saying goes that lightning doesn’t strike twice in the same place, but it hit two fertilizer plants less than a week apart – at a warehouse in Tennessee (GM April 2, p. 1) and on April 3 at a fertilizer mixing building in Macon, Ill., where an Evergreen FS dry storage mixing building was completely destroyed. One of the firefighters on the scene, Scott Wise with the South Macon Fire Protection District, told Green Markets that the other parts of the facility approximately 150 yards away were spared, and employees were back to work shortly after the fire was brought under control. He said the losses, which were estimated at $500,000, included two belt-driven legs and a mixer itself, along with a undetermined but large amount of DAP, potash, and urea. “We couldn’t put any water on the fire because of the chemical runoff problem,” Wise reported, “but we were able to keep two 30,000 gallon propane tanks cooled down right next to the flames.” He said 10 loads of lime were used to build a dike around the facility to contain any chemical leakage. A hundred tons of sand also were used to keep contamination from collecting in a ditch on the property. Meanwhile, the local press reported the fire cut off access to school buses, and other transportation had to be brought from nearby Springfield to take students home. Concerns over the propane tanks exploding also closed U.S. 51 temporarily.
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