Hazmat team responds to airborne chemical leak at East St. Louis plant that recently had a fire
The East St. Louis chemical plant that experienced a fire this month was also the site of an airborne chemical leak on Saturday.
East St. Louis Fire Chief Jason Blackmon said his department got the call about the leak at 6:30 a.m. Smoke was coming from a tanker trailer at the chemical plant at 2904 Missouri Ave., according to authorities. The plant is owned by Allnex USA Inc.
A hazmat team was among the emergency crews to respond to the scene.
The city of East St. Louis announced the leak just before 9 a.m. in a post on social media. It asked residents near the site to avoid the area or stay inside and to go to the emergency room if they felt ill. In an update Saturday evening, officials gave residents the all-clear to continue their day as normal.
Two weeks ago, a fire at chemical plant injured two workers.
Blackmon said there were no known injuries from the chemical leak.
The Allnex plant produces industrial coating resins and other materials. Calls placed to the plant Saturday evening did not go through because the phone line was busy.
Blackmon could not immediately provide details about what chemical was involved in the leak or what might have caused the leak.
East St. Louis Mayor Robert Eastern III said in a submitted statement that the city would be developing a plan to address “post event contaminates expeditiously.”
A representative from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency could not be reached for comment Saturday.
Read the full statement from East St. Louis mayor
Mayor Robert Eastern III provided the following statement about the chemical leak at about 5 p.m. Saturday:
“My number one concern has been for the safety of our residents, small businesses and corporate citizens.
“I want especially thank the first responders who were exceptional in their work in these extreme temperatures. The crews were under the direction of E. St. Louis Fire Chief Jason Blackmon and ESDA Deputy Director Lee Coleman who were stellar in their leadership, response efforts and support of St. Clair County’s Hazmat team. Over the next several days, we will be collectively working to review our response to this emergency. We’ll develop a plan to ensure the seamless process of addressing post event contaminates expeditiously.
“Since the onset of this emergency event, the team has been communicating with the residents of East St. Louis via the Code Red Emergency Alert System I insisted we have. Over the last several hours, we’ve given our community instructions on which areas to avoid & urged them to stay inside of their homes and businesses.”
This story was originally published July 23, 2022 at 11:09 AM.
