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Firefighters pulled back from a massive fire that destroyed the Winston Weaver Co. fertilizer plant Monday night, as fears of an explosion led to an evacuation of an area within a one-mile perimeter of the plant on North Cherry Street near Indiana Avenue.

After fighting the fire for more than an hour and a half, after pouring water down on the burning fertilizer plant from the top of elevated fire ladders, firefighters got the word around 8:30 p.m. to move all their equipment a mile away from the fire, and efforts began to evacuate homes within that radius as well.

A bystander watches as Winston-Salem firefighters battle a fire at a Winston Weaver Co. fertilizer plant at 4440 N. Cherry St. on Jan. 31, 2022. No injuries were reported.

Mayor Allen Joines said firefighters had to stop fighting the fire and pull back because of the large amount of ammonium nitrate at the plant.

“We pulled the firefighters back because of the danger of an explosion,” Joines said.

Fire Chief William “Trey” Mayo said that the plant may have had almost three times the amount of ammonium nitrate that was in a Texas plant that burned and exploded in 2013, killing 15 people.

Mayo said evacuees need to be prepared to stay out of their homes for 48 hours.

The one-mile evacuation zone included a minimum-security prison and parts of the campus of Wake Forest University, which announced the cancellation of classes on Tuesday and the opening of several buildings on campus for faculty, staff or students with nowhere else to go during the evacuation.

The city opened an evacuation center in the Education Building at the Winston-Salem Fairgrounds.

The intense fire appeared to fully engulf the fertilizer plant, sending a wall of flames into the sky and huge billows of black smoke over that section of the city.

For a while, firefighters worked on getting water onto the fire from an elevated position on a ladder. When the evacuation was announced over fire radios, a long procession of fire trucks could be seen pulling away from the burning fertilizer plant from an entry drive near the corner of Cherry Street and Indiana Avenue.

Just before the fire trucks left, it appeared that the intense blaze might be finally starting to grow smaller. But with no more water coming down on the blaze, it only seemed to regather strength – even though it also appeared that little was left of the plant building.

A Winston-Salem Police officer said he couldn’t provide any details but that he was told to “pack up and leave.”

No injuries had been reported, police said.

There was no immediate word on the cause of the fire. The plant is at 4440 N. Cherry Street, between North Point Boulevard and Indiana Avenue. Repeatedly, police and fire officials told onlookers gathered on parking lots along North Point Boulevard to get away from the area because of the danger from the fire.

No one had to tell Jeff Lumen to get away. An employee of WestRock, a company beside the burning fertilizer plant, Lumen said he first knew something was amiss when he smelled smoke coming from the plant next door.

Lumen said he left quickly after realizing the plant was burning. “I saw an orange glow, and that is all I needed,” he said. Other WestRock employees stood in their company drive to block onlookers from approaching to get a better view, warning them about the dangers of fire in a fertilizer plant.

At one point Monday night, the fire was visible for miles and sent huge black clouds of smoke into the sky. Popping noises could be heard coming from the burning plant – evidence, it seemed, of items igniting in the blaze.

Michelle Shepherd, who lives less than two blocks from the plant, said her house shook from the force of explosions inside the plant. Shepherd said she listened to the fire department on a scanner, and when she heard them say that they had located a rail car full of ammonium nitrate, the evacuation started right afterwards.

Shepherd was one of only two people at the evacuation center when it first opened. Officials said they did not know how many people might eventually decide to come. Joines said it is possible the evacuation could last more than 24 hours because of toxic fumes.

A Winston-Salem police officer said people living within a mile of the burning plant would be evacuated using a reverse-911 procedure. A reverse 911 call occurs when the system makes outgoing calls in order to pass on emergency communications.

Residents were told to evacuate in the area of the fire. One fire official said there was a large amount of ammonium nitrate, an explosive, at the plant, and that it wasn’t safe to be close to the fire.

There was a sense of urgency as officers told people to leave the area around the plant. The officers could be seen putting up yellow police tape around the block where the factory was located.

Firefighters were called to the blaze around 7 p.m. The building where they worked to extinguish the flames was gutted. Police blocked off the intersections around the burning plant, and sent drivers away from the scene.

Ammonium nitrate is one of the world’s most common fertilizers.

It is also a main component in many types of explosives used in mining. To create such blasts, ammonium nitrate is mixed with fuel oil and detonated by an explosive charge.

Officials said that the inmates at the Forsyth Correctional Center would be transferred to other prisons.

Wake Forest officials said the evacuation area on campus did not include any on-campus housing except for Deacon Place, which is within the one-mile perimeter of the plant.

The university opened Wellbeing Center, Benson Center and the library for students needing a place to stay.

Winston Weaver Co. was founded in 1929 in Norfolk, Va., according to the company’s website.

The Winston-Salem plant was built in 1939 and opened for business in January of 1940.

The company specializes in all-purpose plant food and specialty fertilizer.

Its products are sold at Lowe’s stores throughout the Southeast.

The fertilizer plant is at 4440 N. Cherry Street, between North Point Boulevard and Indiana Avenue.

A bystander watches as Winston-Salem firefighters battle a structure fire at 4440 N. Cherry St. on Monday, Jan. 31, 2022, in Winston-Salem, N.C.

Winston-Salem firefighters battle a structure fire at 4440 N. Cherry St. on Monday, Jan. 31, 2022, in Winston-Salem, N.C.

Winston-Salem firefighters fight a structure fire at 4440 N. Cherry St. on Monday, Jan. 31, 2022, in Winston-Salem, N.C.

Winston-Salem firefighters battle a structure fire at 4440 N. Cherry St. on Monday, Jan. 31, 2022, in Winston-Salem, N.C.

Winston-Salem firefighters battle a structure fire at 4440 N. Cherry St. on Monday, Jan. 31, 2022, in Winston-Salem, N.C.

A motorist stops to look at the blaze from a structure fire at 4440 N. Cherry St. on Monday, Jan. 31, 2022, in Winston-Salem, N.C.

Winston-Salem firefighters battle a structure fire at 4440 N. Cherry St. on Monday, Jan. 31, 2022, in Winston-Salem, N.C.

Winston-Salem firefighters battle a structure fire at 4440 N. Cherry St. on Monday, Jan. 31, 2022, in Winston-Salem, N.C.

A structure fire burns at Weaver Fertilizer Co. on Monday, Jan. 31, 2022, in Winston-Salem, N.C.

Winston-Salem police officers create barriers from a structure fire at Weaver Fertilizer Co. on Monday, Jan. 31, 2022, in Winston-Salem, N.C.

Clouds of smoke billow around Weaver Fertilizer Co. as the fire continues to burn at 4440 N. Cherry St. on Monday, Jan. 31, 2022, in Winston-Salem, N.C.

A lone Winston-Salem police car is seen near a structure fire at Weaver Fertilizer Co. at 4440 N. Cherry St. on Monday, Jan. 31, 2022, in Winston-Salem, N.C.

Weaver Fertlizer Co. burns at 4440 N. Cherry St. on Monday, Jan. 31, 2022, in Winston-Salem, N.C.

A structure fire burns at Weaver Fertilizer Co. on Monday, Jan. 31, 2022, in Winston-Salem, N.C.

An angel statue faces in the direction of billowing smoke from the fire at Weaver Fertilizer Co. on Monday, Jan. 31, 2022, in Winston-Salem, N.C.

Greensboro firefighters pick up oxygen tanks from a hazardous materials truck at a command site during a structure fire at Weaver Fertilizer Co. on Monday, Jan. 31, 2022, in Winston-Salem, N.C.

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A bystander watches as Winston-Salem firefighters battle a fire at a Winston Weaver Co. fertilizer plant at 4440 N. Cherry St. on Jan. 31, 2022. No injuries were reported.

The fertilizer plant is at 4440 N. Cherry Street, between North Point Boulevard and Indiana Avenue.

Residents were told to evacuate in the area of the fire. One fire official said there was a large amount of ammonium nitrate, an explosive, at the plant, and that it wasn’t safe to be close to the fire.

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