A day after LaSalle chemical plant fire, residents who had chemicals rain onto their property want answers
LASALLE, Ill. (CBS) -- There was still no word Thursday afternoon on what caused the massive chemical plant fire the day before in LaSalle - about 90 minutes southwest of Chicago.
But the owners of the plant, Carus, are now back inside the building.
As CBS 2's Sara Machi reported, firefighters declared their job done around noon. They opened the doors for Carus to come back in.
On Thursday, officials couldn't say how or where the fire started, or how much damage was done.
And neighbors say that is just the beginning of their list of questions.
It had been 24 hours Thursday since flames reached several stories in the sky at the Carus plant. A plume of smoke that evoked a volcano rained potassium permanganate on houses to the north.
"Nobody's checking on us," said neighbor Jamie Hicks. "Now we're left with this."
Hicks first showed us Wednesday how a mysterious substance coated everything outside his LaSalle home.
"It sounded like hail was falling," Hicks said. "But it wasn't hail. It was this green-purple stuff."
Hicks now says the Environmental Protection Agency has stopped by his house. He heard city assurances that it is safe to wash away the potassium permanganate that rained down on his property.
Carus earlier advised that potassium permanganate could be removed with a solution of household distilled vinegar and 3 percent household hydrogen peroxide in a one-part-to-one-part mix. But on Thursday, Carus vice president of operations Allen Gibbs said some people had said they had washed their car without the solution and had asked whether they still need to use it.
He said the solution was not necessary.
"Water's best," he said. "Doesn't work all the time – sometimes you'll get a stain – and then that solution works really well."
But Hicks' neighbors say nobody has come to check on them or returned their calls to the new incident hotline, at (815) 224-6662.
"Nobody at all," said Pam Trowbridge. "We've had cars going by and everything, but nobody's ever come to see if we're okay."
"We just got the hotline going up last night. We've staffed up. I now have five people on the hotline," said Carus vice president of operations Allen Gibbs. "I'm trying to mitigate what you just said so we're able to get back to people. So we're making a lot of calls to people."
At a press conference Thursday afternoon, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency On-Scene Coordinator Robert Kondreck said the EPA is monitoring air quality levels - which haven't required action. The Division of Natural Resources handling water and soil testing.
Carus said they're also organizing community clean-up efforts, with more information to come.
"It's a tight ship over there. But it ain't over here once they plumed our neighborhood. This is what's killing me," Hicks said. "They're acting like it's nothing, but if you get a spill there, it is dramatic."
LaSalle leaders say they don't have another update planned right now.
The best way to get new information is by watching their social media pages and giving your information to the hotline, which is running after several issues on Wednesday.
The hotline, again, is at (815) 224-6662.
