Fire restarts, heavy smoke seen days after explosion rocks South Peoria ethanol facility

PEORIA – Firefighters have returned to the BioUrja Renewables plant in South Peoria after heavy smoke was seen coming from collapsed grain bins.

Interim Fire Chief Shawn Sollberger said that his crews made progress knocking down the fire Friday afternoon, but that spraying water presented another challenge.

"The weight of water is 8 pounds (per gallon). We are going to flow water onto this and it's already structurally unsound. There could be an additional collapse. It's very risky," he said.

The fire stems from an incident Wednesday night when several large grain bins caught fire and were heavily damaged.

More coverage: Explosion heavily damages grain silos, injures two at former ADM plant in Peoria

Fire crews were able to knock down most of the fire, but there was still smoldering when they left Thursday afternoon, the chief said. That was seen as a calculated risk as Sollberger said that trying to extinguish all the flames could cause more damage.

That light smoke continued until Friday afternoon, when thick, heavy smoke began to pour out of a damaged bin. Fire crews rushed back and began to pour water on the site.

"You are always at a risk when you are dealing with grain and dust like this, but if we don't mitigate this now, it could get worse," he said.

Another issue was that firefighters couldn't get a direct line on the fire itself.

"We can't physically get to where we need to be due to the structural integrity of silos," the chief said.

The initial implosion of a bin on Wednesday sent two people to a hospital, but they were later treated and released, a company spokesman said. No firefighters were injured.

This article originally appeared on Journal Star: Fire again reported at BioUrja ethanol site in South Peoria