December 16, 2024
Cleanup work will stop for two weeks and then start up again on Monday, January 06, 2025.
Removal Work Update
- 4,600 tons, of asbestos contaminated materials debris has been transported to a landfill. The debris primarily consists of soot, wood, bricks, concrete, and roofing material.
- Building #1, #2, #4 and #11 has been completely deconstructed. A small garage building (Building X) located on the southeast corner of the site was removed. Deconstruction of buildings #8 and #12 are on-going.
- 36 loads of clean construction and demolition debris were delivered to the site, totaling over 500 tons. The clean material was used as backfill of the basements of Buildings #5 and #7. This material was provided for free from the City of Rockford which came from expansion work of the downtown bus station. Additional loads of free materials will continue to be delivered as excavation continues.
- Continued sorting of metal from debris piles. Scrap metal is set aside, sprayed with the firehose for decontamination, and hauled off to a scrapyard or landfill.
- Four 55 gallon drums were safely removed from the top floor of Building #4 and three of the drums was found to be empty. The other drum was sampled for hazardous waste characteristics and sent to a lab for analysis.
- Transportation of asbestos contaminated materials debris to the Winnebago Landfill continues. Trucks are lined with two layers of 6-mil poly, loaded with debris, and then secured by "burrito" wrapping the poly with adhesive.
- Air monitoring and sampling continues. Results of asbestos ambient air samples have not found any exceedances above action levels.
Site Background
The Illinois Cabinet Company was a large industry on Rockford's southeast side that operated from 1906 until 1973 creating wooden furniture. Since then, the Site has been primarily used as a storage warehouse for a variety of companies and then sat mostly vacant. In September 2023, the current owner of the Site signed a contract with a contractor to salvage building materials. The scrapping work was then done without an asbestos inspection, abatement permit, or demolition permit.
The City of Rockford Building Department
became aware of demolition work in the building sometime in December 2023. Before
it could inspect the Site or issue a stop-work permit, a large fire broke out in
the five-story western portion of the Site on the evening of December 15. The
fire caused significant damage and collapsed approximately half of the site into a pile of rubble and debris about 1.6 acres in size. Investigation into
the cause of the fire is still ongoing and arson has not been ruled out.
Following the fire, the City inspected the remaining structure and identified suspected ACM debris. The mayor of Rockford then
submitted a letter on February 22, 2024 to the EPA requesting a removal
assessment and possible removal action.
On September 30, 2024, EPA mobilized to the Illinois Cabinet Company site to start the removal of asbestos contaminated debris and structurally unstable buildings that are at the result of a fire and building material salvaging. During removal, water will be sprayed on debris to provide dust suppression and air monitoring will be conducted to help ensure that asbestos fibers do not migrate off-site.
The Site is located in a mixed residential and
commercial area on the southeast side of Rockford. Several single-family homes
are located across Harrison Avenue approximately 400 feet south of the Site. Just
50 feet immediately north of the Site is Collins Aerospace, one of Rockford’s
largest employers.
