Fertilizer Plant Fire Forces Evacuations, Shelter Orders

A fire broke out Saturday morning at a chemical plant in Alabama that produces sulfur-based fertilizers, forcing authorities to evacuate the facility and issue stay-in-place orders impacting hundreds of residents as heavy smoke filled the area.

The blaze was sparked in a warehouse at the Tiger-Sul Inc. plant in Atmore, AL at about 5:30 a.m. Firefighters combatted the blaze for several hours. No injuries were reported, but part of the warehouse later collapsed, the Atmore Advance reported.

“Sulfur dust fires, they have a low ignition point and it’s hard to see sometimes,” said Chief Deputy of the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office said in local ABC News affiliate WEAR’s report.

A company spokesperson told the Advance that the plant was not operational at the time of the incident and no workers were present.

Officials said about 200 to 300 residents within a half-mile radius of the plant were evacuated or ordered to stay inside their homes.

“The law said stay inside because a sulfer plant had blown up and anyone breathing that stuff, it would make them sick,” Jessie Jay, a resident of Atmore, told local NBC News affiliate WPMI.

Tiger-Sul Inc. was founded in 1964 and produces a variety of agricultural chemicals containing sulfur, according to the company’s website.

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