WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Around 6,000 people have been asked to evacuate in Winston-Salem as a fire burns at the Weaver Fertilizer Plant in the city.
“I started packing. Packing and panicking,” Stephanee Armas said. “My kids were asleep at the time so I was able to just kind of get the important stuff throw in a bag and then get them ready for them in the car and then we came here.”
Those within a mile of the plant were asked Monday night to leave their homes in fear of an explosion at the plant.
Destiny Berrios said she was at home Tuesday when she heard a loud noise.
“So I decided to pull up my police scanner on my phone and that’s when I went on Facebook and saw the fire video,” Berrios said.
Both women said they didn’t know about the fire until seeing it on social media.
“I don’t think any of my neighbors knew until well after we should’ve already been evacuated,” Armas said.
Armas took her family to a local hotel. Berrios said she debated whether she should leave or not at first.
“It was getting kind of late so I was (I didn’t want to) bother (anybody),” Berrios said. “My husband was on a work trip, he was on his way back so he had the car so I didn’t know what to do.”
Berrios ended up calling her mother-in-law on FaceTime and she heard another loud boom. Then, she decided to leave.
“I had my son with me, he’s three years old, so I just put some clothes on put some clothes on him, got my purse and she called us an Uber that was like five minutes away so I had like five minutes to just get all my stuff and leave,” Berrios said.
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For Berrios, it was a wake-up call to be prepared in case of emergencies.
“I didn’t have enough time to grab everything so it was kind of crazy like what if that was the last time I’m seeing all my stuff, so (…) I really hope I have a home to go to after all this is over,” Berrios said.
She and her husband did go back without their son to grab a few items.
“(There was) so much smoke everywhere, we were just like in and out,” Berrios said. “I grabbed my hamper just put a whole bunch of stuff in there and we (were) out of there.”
The American Red Cross set up an emergency shelter at the Winston-
Salem Fairgrounds. The county also has a trailer for pets.
“People are not here because they want to be here and they’d rather be home and certainly for many people if they have the option to be with family or friends that’s where they’re going to be rather than be here,” John Hughes, executive director of the American Red Cross of the Piedmont Triad said. "We want to make this as comfortable as possible for them and provide for their needs in any way that we can for those that have nowhere else to go.”
While the Berrios and Armas families are safe, it is nerve-racking not knowing what lies ahead.
“What if something happens? What if this explodes? I really hope and pray that it (doesn’t) but if it did I don’t know we’ll just have to start from scratch and trust in God that he got us,” Berrios said.