Lisa Sorg with NC Newsline has been covering environmental remediation efforts at the site of the fertilizer plant after the fire. She discussed her reporting with WFDD's April Laissle.
When the smoke finally cleared from the Weaver Fertilizer Plant fire last winter, Winston-Salem officials turned their attention to helping those who were forced to pack their bags and head to safer ground. More than 6,500 people were under evacuation orders, many of whom lived in low-income neighborhoods.
Two-thirds of the city funding set aside to ease the financial burdens of the Winston Weaver Fertilizer plant fire was never distributed to residents. An update provided Wednesday at a community meeting marking the one-year anniversary of the fire raised questions about outreach efforts. In the weeks after the crisis, $1 million was set aside to reimburse residents who were forced to cover the costs of the multi-day evacuation. The city of Winston-Salem chose the nonprofit Experiment in Self-Reliance (ESR) without a formal bid process to manage and distribute the fund.
Winston-Salem Fire Chief Trey Mayo found himself in the national spotlight last year when a potentially explosive fire threatened the community around the Winston Weaver fertilizer plant.
In the year since the Winston Weaver fertilizer plant fire, five lawsuits have been filed against the company alleging negligence. A lawyer representing one plaintiff says hopes of a class action suit are temporarily stalled. The suits allege that the Winston Weaver Company failed to safely store dangerous chemicals and did not follow industry rules designed to prevent and mitigate fires, among other things.