PEORIA, Ill. — It’s been revealed and confirmed that a leak is what triggered an explosion on May 11 at the BioUrja Renewables plant in Peoria. The updated information comes from Interim Peoria Fire Chief Shawn Sollberger.
He tells WMBD News there was a leak detected in bin #75 about 5 minutes prior to that night’s explosion.
Sollberger indicated there was somehow a puncture in that bin.
Two employees were injured the night of the blast and for weeks afterward, Peoria city fire crews, BioUrja engineers along with experts in multiple fields from across the region and Chicago spent thousands of man hours attempting to avert an even greater disaster.
Sollberger explains how volatile a factory environment in combination with explosive grain dust can be, “you have belts, conveyors, furnaces and any type of friction or any type of spark,” he said.
For now, the Chief has estimated the bill for time spent responding to the emergency will likely remain “under a million”.
He said he planned on delivering that cost estimate to city elected leaders in the coming days.
Barely a week into the response, Sollberger had mentioned Peoria fighters had spent upwards of 2,000 man hours, racking up a heft load of overtime for firefighters and commanders in the process.
The Peoria Fire Department finally left the plant site last weekend once demolition efforts had gotten well underway to remove damaged portions of the plant.
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