Update: People return home after Yakima Valley fertilizer plant fire forces evacuations
Sunnyside residents are heading back home after a blaze at the Nutrien Ag Solutions fertilizer plant forced people out of their homes.
Yakima Valley Emergency Management announced that the evacuation order was lifted for people living within half a mile of the plant at 1101 Midvale Road.
The order was issued about 4:45 p.m. after the fire broke out at the plant. Midvale Road to Duffy Road were evacuated, and travelers were cautioned to avoid South 1st Street.
Firefighters worked through the night monitoring the blaze that broke out Monday just after 1 p.m.
The blaze started when a smoldering pile of sulfur turned into a chemical fire, Sunnyside Fire Chief Ken Anderson told the Yakima Herald-Republic. Workers noticed 200 tons of sulfur smoldering in a storage building. Thick smoke prevented them from putting out the fire themselves.
The building contained 1.75 million pounds of mixed components for fertilizers but the nearby buildings contained far more dangerous chemicals, Anderson told the Herald-Republic.
The blaze destroyed the storage building at the corner of the facility, and damaged others, but adjacent storage tanks containing hazardous chemicals were spared
In all, 18 families were evacuated, along with nearby industrial facilities.
No one was reported injured, according to Sunnyside firefighters.
And an American Red Cross evacuation center was opened at the Sunnyside Community Center at 1521 S. First St.
Food, cots and other urgent essentials were provided to those who had to leave their homes.
The 13,000-square-foot Nutrien Ag building stores both liquid and solid fertilizer.
The plant operates on property that was recently sold to Nutrien by the Port of Sunnyside.
About 15-20 people work at the facility, the port said in 2018.
This story was originally published February 28, 2022 at 6:34 PM.
