Teutopolis residents discuss aftermath of anhydrous ammonia leak
Oct. 2—Teutopolis residents are learning more about the accident less than a mile east of town on U.S. Route 40 Friday night that resulted in a deadly leak of anhydrous ammonia and a mass evacuation.
In the wake of Friday night's chaotic events, the village and surrounding communities have worked together to help those affected by the accident.
Among those who had to evacuate were members of the Teutopolis Civic Club, who had just about finished setting everything up for the annual Oktoberfest celebration at the Teutopolis Banquet Hall when the accident occurred.
The setup for the event included inflatables, lights, a Wiffle ball diamond, tents and a dance floor.
"We worked on it all last week," Teutopolis Civic Club member Scott Kinkelaar said. "We were out here Friday finishing up whenever the town got evacuated. The only thing we didn't have probably was the stage set up for the band."
Members of the club were at the Teutopolis Banquet Hall Sunday to pack up everything that was set up for the event, which the club canceled over the weekend due to the unforeseen tragedy.
A Teutopolis Civic Club member Ted Runde described the moment he and fellow members first began to notice the fumes released by the truck.
"When we were out here, they evacuated the hall, and as soon as they said it was ammonia, it hit all of us," Runde said.
Another Teutopolis Civic Club member, Matt Weidner, doesn't reside in the area where the accident occurred, but said he was at a friend's house in Teutopolis Friday night and had to evacuate.
"We had to get out, too," Weidner said.
Another member of the club, Henry Siemer, said he saw "a lot of emergency responders" at the four-way stop at the intersection of U.S. Route 40 and Pearl Street in Teutopolis on the night of the incident.
"They were saying that Pearl Street was the evacuation limit," Siemer said of the first responders. "Then the actual danger zone was probably a little farther east."
Most members of the club said they live on the east side of town.
Weidner said he traveled to Effingham during the evacuation, while Kinkelaar said he rented a hotel room to stay in before it was safe for him to return home.
"Everybody went different directions," Weidner said.
"We just got a room at the Holiday Inn," Kinkelaar said. "But still, when I came in town, I had to drive around the safety cones and stuff to get to my house."
Several members of the club said they could smell the anhydrous ammonia in the moments following the accident, but none of them said they've experienced any lingering symptoms that might be linked to the fumes.
"We were west of Pearl Street, but you could still smell it pretty bad," Weidner said. "You could feel it in your eyes. You could smell it. It was strong."
Additionally, club member Chuck Runde said his granddaughters were also caught up in the aftermath of the accident, scrambling to leave the area as they began to notice the physical effects of the anhydrous ammonia.
"I had three granddaughters up here Friday night when it happened, and they called my wife to come up and get them in a hurry because they were outside," Runde said. "And it was stinging their eyes, and they could smell it. They were definitely affected."
Instead of hosting the annual event Saturday, members of the club went to Pal's Electric Inc. where they gave out free food to the public.
The group has also been providing food and donated caffeinated beverages to area first responders.
This has helped the club avoid wasting the food it purchased for the event.
"This was our biggest fundraiser, and we saw that that wasn't going to happen," Weidner said. "So we just tried to brainstorm and come up with some ideas of what we could do to help the community."
Weidner said one reason why Pal's Electric was an ideal location for the food giveaway is because the club was looking for somewhere off of Illinois Route 33 that would also be easily accessible from the highway.
"We didn't want to set anything up on 40 since 40 was closed, so 33 was the next point that made the most sense," Weidner said.
Weidner said Matt Pals, the owner and president of Pal's Electric, is "very generous" for allowing the club to use his facility over the weekend as members of the club provided free food for the community.
"Matt Pals is real good with the community, and he's a very charitable-type person," Weidner said. "We called him and he said, 'Yeah. No problem.'"
According to Weidner, the free food attracted a steady flow of residents, mostly during the evening, and Chuck Runde said some of them were initially hesitant to accept the free food.
"We almost had to talk people into taking food," Runde said. "They didn't want to take food if it was going to be taken away from anybody else.
"I don't know how many pounds, but we served hundreds of burgers and brats."
It was also during this time that another group from the club went to Teutopolis High School to serve food to first responders.
"We kind of split up," Kinkelaar said. "We fired up the grill and cooked for the first responders and everybody that was meeting there too."
Chuck Runde said the club also put out a donation bucket for food and drinks for first responders, and he said the community made a significant number of donations over the weekend.
"They were coming in by the car load," Kinkelaar said.
It is in moments like this that Weidner said one can see just how supportive Teutopolis and surrounding communities can be when tragedies like this occur, and he said helping the community has always been the Teutopolis Civic Club's mission.
"We're pretty fortunate to live in the community we do because in tragic situations, people are quick to help," Weidner said. "We just try to help the community as much as we can."
Although it's certainly disappointing for members who were looking forward to another Oktoberfest celebration, Chuck Runde claimed the event will be back in full force next year.
"Because of what happened this year, we're gonna make next year's Oktoberfest bigger and better," Chuck Runde said.
Meanwhile, Kinkelaar said he remains "cautiously optimistic" as a further investigation into the matter continues.
In addition to the help of local groups like the Teutopolis Civic Club, surrounding communities, including Effingham, offered assistance to residents caught up in the evacuation.
Effingham supporters include St. Anthony Grade School, which opened its doors to residents over the weekend, serving as a shelter during the evacuation.
"We had roughly 12-15 folks that used the grade school as a shelter," Principal Cody Rincker said Monday. "It was a short amount of time as they were kind of waiting to see how long the evacuation was necessary before they burdened any family or friends."
Rincker said all Teutopolis residents had left the grade school by 2 a.m. Saturday, having found a place to stay outside of the evacuation zone.
Rincker said Teutopolis Unit 50 Superintendent Matt Sturgeon reached out to him shortly after the accident asking if he'd be willing to let residents use the grade school as a temporary shelter.
"Essentially, it was a pretty easy decision," Rincker said.
Rincker also said the community is "all here for each other," and he hopes that all of those impacted by the accident find "healing and comfort."
"Our thoughts and our prayers go out to the general Teutopolis community and to those who lost loved ones and/or have loved ones that are injured," Rincker said. "And we pray that nothing like this can ever happen again."
The Red Cross also offered assistance Saturday to those impacted by the accident, particularly family members and first responders, through the Red Cross Disaster Mental Health, Disaster Spiritual Care and Integrated Care and Condolence Team volunteers, according to an email from Red Cross Communications Manager Connie Esparza.
Additionally, the Red Cross encourages anyone impacted by the accident to contact the Red Cross Disaster support line by calling 800-RED-CROSS.
Nick Taylor can be reached at nick.taylor@effinghamdailynews.com
or by phone at 618-510-9226 or 217-347-7151 ext. 300132.
