Bomb threat at Illinois ethanol plant forces mandatory mile-wide evacuation order

Detailed summary

A bomb threat at an ethanol plant prompted a large-scale evacuation for an entire Illinois city Friday night as officials worked to defuse the credible threat.

A bomb threat at an ethanol plant prompted a large-scale evacuation of parts of an Illinois city Friday night as officials worked to defuse the credible threat.

The suspicious package was discovered at the BioUrja Renewables plant in Peoria, Ill., just after 1 p.m. Friday.

Peoria police ruled the device a credible threat an hour later as FBI agents were called to the scene, Police Chief Brad Dixon said at a press conference early Saturday morning.

Officials determined a 1-mile-wide blast-radius zone and issued an urgent evacuation notice for the area at 7 p.m.

“As a precautionary measure, the Peoria Police Department is urging anyone who lives or works within a one-mile radius of the facility to immediately evacuate their homes and businesses until further notice,” city officials said.

Bomb technicians were called in and “rendered the package safe” at 9:12 p.m.

The rest of the plant was not cleared and a search for additional threats was launched.

“It’s a large facility. There’s going to be an exhaustive search of the facility. That has not been completed yet,” Dixon said, warning Peoria residents the evacuation notice would remain in effect.

Multiple local, state and federal agencies responded to the bomb threat, including the Illinois State Police, the Illinois Secretary of State, the ATF and the FBI, FBI Springfield Field Office’s Special Agent in Charge Ryan Presley said at the press conference.

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