LASALLE – The city of LaSalle is considering air quality testing with its third party environmentalist on homes affected by the Carus chemical fire. According to Deputy City Clerk Brent Bader, Brownfield Environmental Engineering has consulted with Indoor Sciences, an indoor air quality consulting firm, on conducting tests inside homes. Brownfield believes there are more types of tests that need to be conducted compared to previous tests done by Sierra Club Environmental Organization. Brownfield is recommending retesting eight homes tested by Sierra, test additional homes that have not changed air filters since the fire and test home that have changed air filters for comparison. Bader says the cost of these additional tests would costs $3100 per home, plus an additional 5 to 6,000 to prepare a study for a total of $80,000. Soil testing results are pending and once received will be sent to state and county health departments and the U.S. and Illinois Environmental Protection Agencies. The city is pushing for reimbursement of existing and further testing conducted as well as city equipment damaged due to the fire.
