Residents keep pressure on Carus for answers in fire’s aftermath

Residents gathered outside of Carus headquarters in Peru on Friday to remind the community there still are several unanswered questions after the Jan. 11 Carus Chemical fire that occurred in La Salle.

The residents also want to keep the pressure on Carus to organize town hall meetings.

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Protesters hold signs Friday, April 21, 2023, while attending the Protest Carus Negligence outside Carus headquarters at the corner of St. Louis and Fifth streets across from the Westclox building in Peru. (Scott Anderson)

Carus Chemical said Wednesday it plans to host a series of town hall meetings in La Salle over the next several months to address community concerns, but dates have not been set as of yet.

“We’ve been dealing with Carus for 90 days, well over 90 days, and we have been to every city meeting and Carus has not shown up one time to answer questions,” said La Salle resident Marty Schneider. “They hired a PR firm to handle the media and our complaints. They hired two risk management teams to handle their insurance that come to our homes.”

It’s been over three months, if he was sincere about his plans to have a town hall he should have come to that meeting with the mayor with actual dates and actual plans.

—  Mark Schneider, of Peru

The protest is the second in as many weeks in front of the Carus offices in Peru. La Salle Mayor Jeff Grove led a protest April 12, along with other residents, asking the company to meet with the community. Grove and Carus CEO Andy Johnston met Wednesday, with an announcement coming from that meeting Carus would set up town hall meetings.

“We wanted to send a message (Friday) to the Carcus CEO, and other high ups that an empty promise of future town meetings is not enough for us at this point,” said Mark Schneider, of Peru. “It’s been over three months, if he was sincere about his plans to have a town hall he should have come to that meeting with the mayor with actual dates and actual plans. Not come out of that meeting with, ‘oh now we are going to plan.’ The residents are tired of waiting.”

Residents who have attended La Salle City Council meetings since the Jan. 11 fire have asked for more environmental testing, after a number of independent furnace filter, soil and other tests have shown elevated levels of some heavy metals. The EPA and Illinois Department of Public Health said in a letter March 31 it does not believe additional testing would be useful and able to determine the impact to residents caused by the Carus Chemical fire, but residents believe the agencies were hasty in their testing and would like more comprehensive samples taken. Residents indicated EPA samples did not test for heavy metals, which they said are being found in independent tests.

“We are trying to hold Carus responsible for the Jan. 11 fire,” said La Salle resident Jamie Hicks. “There is still a lot unanswered questions and I’ve been finding a lot of things that just aren’t matching up with safety plans. What if it happens again? The community has a right to know, we should have safety plans. We should have emergency acts put in place for us.”

Review of continuous monitoring from the air monitor at La Salle Public Library indicated a significant increase in three-hour averages the day of the fire and slowly increasing levels as Carus brought its processes back online, said Denise Trabbic-Pointer, a certified hazardous materials manager volunteering her time in La Salle. Pointer indicated those findings should warrant further testing.

“We need to make sure that Carus pays for the damages to everybody’s home,” Marty Schneider said. “We also want to make sure that they put up air monitors around that plant. The only air monitor in the area is at the downtown library.”

Ashley Franciskovich, of Ottawa, attended Friday’s protest with her mother LuAnn, because they said they are both concerned about the community. They said with a Carus storage facility that was moved to the South Towne Mall in Ottawa, residents in Ottawa also have to pay attention the company’s actions.

“We are concerned about the soil and the people and their families,” Franciskovich said.

“We’re also concerned about the chemicals they are storing at the South Towne Mall, so it coincides with the fire and with both of them and the pollutants they put into the air,” LuAnn said.

Carus posts updates from the company to its website, sharing information in the aftermath of the fire, but representatives have not attended a council meeting. Residents have said their questions go beyond the scope of what Carus has addressed in those postings.

Grove said Wednesday he encouraged Carus to schedule the meetings soon.

“We are hoping for more testing or just hoping the community now opens their eyes to what‘s really going on,” Hicks said.