Carroll County Emergency Management Agency gives all-clear to burn site

LANARK – The Carroll County Emergency Management Agency says there are “no further issues of concern” with materials left following a fire at the Carroll Service Co. building, located at 303 W. Carroll Street in early August.

“Carroll Service Company worked daily with the City of Lanark, Illinois EPA, Lanark Fire and Carroll County Emergency Management Agency,” EMCC said in a press release. “The affected area was monitored daily and mitigation efforts included monitoring soil, air, and water contamination possibilities. After several tests over the course of the last three weeks, it was determined that no further issues are of concern based on the continued evaluations.

“Samples from the area were sent to several different labs for testing and the findings were that the substance in question was non-toxic and not hazardous,” the release said.

The Aug. 5 fire, which is still under investigation by the State Fire Marshal, was the second fire in eight months to damage Carroll Service properties.

No one was injured in the fire that broke out about 6 a.m. in the small building.

Lanark and Shannon firefighters responded, but stopped using water, evacuated the building and began to contain the runoff as soon as they realized ag products stored there had spilled out of their containers.

The Environmental Protection Agency and other agencies were called to make sure the products were properly contained, and the company still was doing inventory checks to identify what products and chemicals were involved, General Manager Chase Sellnow said after the fire.

The EPA was on-site monitoring and advising on the cleanup effort. Although that building is not in use, the rest of Carroll Services Co. is up and running, Sellnow said

On Jan. 9, the 50-year-old Lanark Building Center, home to a lumberyard, hardware store and ag co-op, located just to the east, was lost to a massive fire that began about 7:30 p.m.

It took until 1 p.m. the next day to clear the scene; fire departments from five counties battled the blaze.

No decisions have been made on whether to rebuild that site, which is nearby at 213 W. Carroll St., Sellnow said.

That fire, which officials said was not suspicious, started in the workshop and destroyed the building, its contents, a forklift and two pickup trucks. A cause has not yet been determined, the Fire Marshal’s Office said.

Carroll Service Co. has been in business in this Carroll County village of about 1,500 since 1963.