As fire smolders, evacuated Madison residents are still awaiting all-clear from IEPA
Residents of a Madison neighborhood were still evacuated from their homes Thursday as they await an all-clear from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, Mayor John Hamm III said.
The residents were evacuated by the Venice Police Department when a fire broke out at a nearby recycling center operated by Interco on Fox Brothers Road at 2:07 a.m. Wednesday.
Hamm said residents were evacuated because police worried about the amount of smoke the blaze produced.
“(Venice police) did the right thing,” Hamm said Thursday afternoon.
The cause of the fire remained under investigation by the Illinois State Fire Marshal on Thursday.
The Illinois EPA requested the U.S. EPA conduct air quality tests and sample groundwater. Granite City Waste Water was also conducting groundwater tests.
Kim Biggs, a spokesperson for the Illinois EPA, said Wednesday that in initial calls, the agency was told the Interco building contained appliances like washers and dryers and that there were possibly some electronics inside.
Hamm said two other businesses with buildings in the same industrial park were affected by the fire as well: St. Louis Reload, a lumber company, and MBC Steel, a steel supplier. Hamm said that though those company’s buildings were saved, their products had been “compromised.”
Anthony Newson, who lives across the street from the recycling center, told KSDK 5 that he was awakened by two loud booms and began gathering up his belongings when first responders came to his door early Wednesday.
“I look out my door and it was like an inferno,” he said. “I mean, fire everywhere.”
The Red Cross was called in to offer the residents vouchers for food and supplies, Hamm said. Since Venice police made the decision to evacuate, it also will be tasked with letting residents know when they can return to their homes. That first depends on testing by the Illinois EPA and an official OK by the Madison County Hazardous Material Team.
“It’s all up in the air right now,” Hamm said.
Hamm received the call from Madison Fire Chief Jeff Bridick at 2:15 a.m. on Wednesday. He said Thursday that he’d seen major fires before from his experience working for Shell and in a safety department in Buffalo, New York. He said what he witnessed Wednesday morning, though, will stick with him.
“It was really spooky,” he said.
The Madison Fire Department, which is a volunteer department, requested mutual aid from 21 other departments in St. Louis and the metro-east and four local police departments. There were around 70 to 100 personnel on the ground working for more than 12 hours Wednesday, Hamm said.
A few Madison firefighters and an excavator from the city remained on scene Thursday to manage any active hot spots, particularly those that might be burning under the Interco building’s collapsed roof.
Hamm said he and his administrative assistant provided lunch from Jerry’s Cafeteria and Catering in Madison for the crews while they worked. He said the city showed how “fabulous” the mutual aid system works.
“Madison really appreciates the effort from all who helped,” he said. “We couldn’t have done it without them.”
This story was originally published March 12, 2020 at 5:00 PM.
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