ROCKTON, Ill. — Health officials say no significant issues with air or water quality have been found nearly one month after a massive chemical fire that burned for 10 days just across the Wisconsin border.
Officials from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency and Winnebago County Public Health provided the update on conditions following the fire about a month after the fire started on June 14th.
Illinois EPA Director John Kim says for the most part, all of the air, water and soil samples collected since the fire started have shown contaminant levels below federal standards.
“We have not seen any evidence that the air quality was compromised in a meaningful or significant way,” Kim said during Tuesday’s press conference.
Dr. Sandra Martel of Winnebago County Public Health explained that while there were some momentary spikes in particulates detected, those types of short spikes also normally happen due to things in day-to-day life.
Local health officials launched a public survey on July 1st and say they will continue to take responses to the survey through July 15th. Of the 1,900 surveys that have been completed so far, Dr. Martel says only 5% sought medical care for symptoms they were experiencing after the fire.
The most common symptoms reported were things commonly felt after a fire of any type, including ear, nose and throat irritation, headaches and dizziness. Dr. Martel says less than 0.5% of people who reported symptoms ended up getting treated in the hospital.
Still, the Illinois State’s Attorney for Winnebago County says he will be joining the Illinois Attorney General’s office in filing a lawsuit against Chemtool following last month’s chemical fire.
State’s Attorney J. Hanley says they are not filing the lawsuit for financial reasons — although he says the lawsuit does ask for Chemtool to pay fines and cost recovery for the resources used to fight the fire — but rather to compel the company to evaluate the extent of any possible contamination and look into the possible longterm effects, as well as fixing or limiting any damage.
The lawsuit was first announced last week.
Local fire officials ruled the cause of the massive fire accidental last month.
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