The Winston Weaver Co. fertilizer plant fire is a major event that will be remembered in local lore and history.

The fire, which started Jan. 31 and took several days to extinguish, was made more threatening by the possibility that 500 tons of ammonium nitrate stored in the facility could explode — which would have triggered, as Winston-Salem Fire Chief Trey Mayo put it, “one of the worst explosions in U.S. history.” That’s a frightening prospect for all of us.

It’s likely to lead to some regulatory changes that will include restricting where large-volume combustibles can be stored. It seems clear to everyone that such hazards should not be near any populated area.

There are other lessons that seem obvious at this point, and more that will become evident in the future. At this point, let’s review just a few.

First of all, having competent and effective response teams for emergencies is essential. Our fire department and its leader, Chief Mayo, have been praised for handing this situation calmly and professionally, and rightfully so. When emergencies occur — be they fire or pandemics — we need knowledgeable, experienced professionals to lead the way.

We share an environment. The smoke from the fire didn’t remain on Winston Weaver Co. property, of course. Carried by a breeze and trapped close to the ground by a temperature inversion, the smoke traveled southwest from the plant on Cherry Street toward Wake Forest University, 1.5 miles away, and other nearby localities.

An EPA monitoring device on the WFU campus measured unhealthy particles carried by the smoke, producing readings that averaged 50 times higher than the EPA’s standard for “acceptable” air quality. The levels were also seven times higher than what the EPA deems “hazardous,” the point at which it recommends closing schools and workplaces and evacuating neighborhoods, the Journal reported. That average reading was equal to what researchers have found firefighters face when battling the worst California wildfires.

In addition, materials moved to an offsite storage facility by the Winston Weaver Co. were found to have contaminated Monarcas Creek, which eventually flows into the Yadkin River. Dead fish were found in the creek, Field Operations Director Keith Huff told the Journal, and water samples found “elevated levels of nitrites, nitrates, ammonia nitrogen and other potentially harmful chemicals,” the city said in its announcement.

Winston Weaver Co. was ordered to “immediately cease and desist the illegal discharge of fertilizer-laden runoff” at the second site, the city said.

None of us live to ourselves; the air and water flow around all of us, and an event in one location can have a profound effect on the health of those in other places.

Some in our society are more vulnerable and need our assistance. An estimated 6,500 people in the 1-mile zone surrounding the fertilizer plant were affected by the fire — many of them of modest means. An unknown number evacuated, with many opting to get hotel rooms to wait out the emergency.

“I personally talked to a lady who was told to evacuate, and used her rent money to get a hotel room,” Assistant City Manager Patrice Toney told the Journal. “She did not have friends and family she could stay with. This lady said that she now has a late fee from her apartment complex because she used her rent to fund the room.”

Winston Weaver Co. has already set aside $100,000 to help those affected by the fire, most of which will be distributed by local nonprofits Love Out Loud and Second Harvest Food Bank.

The Winston-Salem City Council is scheduled to vote Monday on a $1 million plan to help these residents as well as those who lost work from nearby businesses that had to close. The money would not be paid out directly to residents, but distributed by nonprofits.

Council member Robert Clark, who chairs the Finance Committee, was correct to assert in Monday’s Finance Committee meeting that guidelines on who can receive the aid must be well established and fair. Council member D.D. Adams was right that costs should include checking houses for hazardous substances and mental health counseling, if needed.

In a city of compassionate people, all of these efforts are proper.

We’re likely to learn more of the circumstances of the fire in the future — and we also need to learn if similar hazards are waiting in other places in the city for an inopportune spark.

— Winston-Salem Journal