HARTSVILLE, S.C.—Two years ago, the Agrium Fertilizer plant in Hartsville was destroyed by a Valentine’s Day fire. The fire tore through the factory and took over 150 firefighters nearly a week to put the fire out entirely. Mayor Mel Pennington, who is also a volunteer firefighter with Hartsville Fire Department and Bryan Crowley, fire marshal for HFD both remember the fire like it was yesterday; they said it was the worst fire either of them had ever seen.
“It was nothing that I expected, I had never been in as a volunteer very long, and being the rookie on the squad, I assumed that we’d be charging into burning buildings,” said Mayor Pennington. “That was probably the hottest fire that I’ve ever been close to.”
“When I arrived, the fire was pretty much fully involved, fire everywhere-probably the largest fire that I’ve seen in 18 years of being in the fire service,” said Crowley. “I knew it was going to be a challenge when I first arrived.”
The fire left dozens of people without jobs and left a small dent in the city’s economy; however two years later, the city is beginning to bounce back.
“We’re doing great, we’re still focused on jobs, and we’re still focused on building,” said Mayor Mel Pennington. “We’re building a hotel, we’re building a splash pad, we’ve got a lot of positive things going on for this city, and we’re doing well.”
And since the fire, the city’s fire department has also implemented some new safety precautions, especially when it comes to other factories in the area, like Sonoco.
“It has enhanced our safety a little bit as far as getting with Sonoco and training with their fire brigade, touring the plant just to see what all hazards there would be, if we were to have a fire there, and hopefully we would not,” said Crowley.
During the fire at the Agrium plant, men and women from fire departments throughout the state came out to help, something that Mayor Pennington is very grateful for.
“We had fire fighters pouring out, and standing by at their stations, and we’ll never forget that,” said Pennington. “That’s why I love that brotherhood of service, because those guys are some of the best people in the world. They came to our city and they stayed for 4 days as we worked to extinguish the fire, and it’s an experience I think most people won’t ever forget, it was quite an impressive thing to watch.”
However the radio system HFD had at the time was not compatible with many of those from other stations, making it difficult to communicate with many of those who came to help. Crowley said that since the fire, they have switched to a radio system that allows their station to communicate with any other fire station throughout the state.
Just a few months after the fire, Agrium announced that they would not be rebuilding the Hartsville plant. The land that the plant once sat on and what’s left of the plant has remained untouched over the last few years; however Mayor Pennington said that there are plans in the works to make use of that land in the future.
“The city asked Agrium for the land so that we could green the space up and possibly use it as a waterfront opportunity,” said Pennington. “We know that there might be some discussions going on with some other businesses, in and around the lake, and hopefully, that will be acquired for a very positive use.”
And like Hartsville, Mayor Pennington hopes that Waco, too, will be able to bounce back after the explosion at the fertilizer plant there killed over a dozen people and destroyed the plant.
“I think about the explosion down at the fertilizer plant down at Texas, and we know that’s a tough time, and if we were closer, we’d sure be there to help and repay that favor that was paid to us,” said Pennington.
“Our hearts go out to the fireman that were there, anyone in that community,” said Crowley. “That could have been us three years ago.”
From www.wbtw.com
Source:
http://valentine.express900.com/2013/04/18/hartsville-bounces-back-2-years-after-fertilizer-plant-fire/