Residents were ordered to evacuate parts of an Illinois community Friday after the town’s mayor said authorities discovered a bomb at a local ethanol and alcohol production plant.
The reported discovery at BioUrja Renewables in Peoria triggered a mandatory evacuation across a one-mile evacuation zone encompassing sections of that city as well as the adjacent municipality of East Peoria.
“It’s real, it’s a real thing,” Peoria Mayor Rita Ali said, according to local news outlet WMBD. “We know it’s a real threat. We know it’s a bomb.”
Peoria Police Chief Brad Dixon said during a news conference Saturday morning that bomb technicians had rendered the object in question safe.
But Dixon asked for the public’s patience as investigators search BioUrja Renewals’ vast facility for other explosive devices, as Peoria news outlet WEEK reported.
“We don’t know if there are other devices,” Ali remarked.
Meanwhile, the FBI’s Ryan Presley, who is in charge of the bureau’s field office about an hour outside Springfield, Illinois, said agents will “relentlessly” pursue those responsible and “bring them to justice.”
On Friday around 7:05 p.m. local time, the Peoria Police Department announced that officers were “actively investigating a reported bomb threat to BioUrja Renewables.” The agency then urged “anyone living or working within a one-mile radius of the facility to immediately evacuate their homes and businesses until further notice.”
The police statement said the evacuation notice was “issued in an abundance of caution while officers and emergency personnel investigate the threat,” which authorities initially called a suspicious package. The city offered the Manual Academy school as a temporary shelter, and police said anyone needing help evacuating their home or business could call for help.
In a separate statement, the municipal government of neighboring East Peoria acknowledged that the evacuation zone associated with the BioUrja Renewables package spanned part of that city. The East Peoria government said it plans to provide an update around 9 a.m. local time Saturday, but in the meantime all evacuations will remain in place.
“This is not a hoax,” Illinois state Sen. Dave Koehler said during Saturday’s news conference. “It goes beyond that… It’s serious. It’s serious.”
Friday’s BioUrja Renewables case occurred in the middle of a particularly chaotic day in the United States, marked by a nationwide shutdown ordered by the Federal Aviation Administration at American airports, which lasted about four hours, canceling or delaying more than 11,000 American flights.
The nation’s nerves were also strained by an oil tanker that hit a cruise ship docked on the Mississippi River in New Orleans on Friday afternoon. First responders had to rescue passengers from river water after the cruise ship flipped onto its side, and more than 30 injuries were reported. But none of the injuries were critical and no deaths were reported in connection with the accident.
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