"The city of Canton turned that building down for $1 when International Harvester closed.
Journal Star (Peoria, IL) August 8, 1997 1997 STATE ALL B1 JESSICA DAYTON FIRE CREWS STILL POURING WATER ON IH PLANT<CANTON FIRE CHIEF SAYS HE EXPECTS TO ROTATE UNITS AT SITE THROUGH WEEKEND CANTON -- The largest fire in Fulton County -- and probably even Peoria County -- history continued to burn Thursday at the former International Harvester Co. plant in Canton.
Three fire crews remained at the scene all night Wednesday and additional crews began to rotate six-hour shifts Thursday at the ravaged plant.
Canton Assistant Fire Chief Dan Oaks said he was called back to the 33-acre site Thursday afternoon as the second floor of the plant administration building rekindled.
"The fire has been under control since (Wednesday) about 2:15, but with a fire this size it takes days before the fire is actually out," Oaks said. "People will be here, I'm guessing, through the weekend."
Oaks said there was no concern about the rekindled blaze, which puffed considerable amounts of black, ashy smoke into the air Thursday. By 4 p.m. the fire was merely smoldering again.
Fire crews continued to pour large amounts of water -- approaching 4 million gallons -- on the hot debris as other crews used an Illinois Department of Transportation crane and wrecking ball to knock down what remained of the main north wall of the warehouse.
The inferno had caused part of the wall to collapse into Elm Street Wednesday, leaving a partial shell of the building and an unstable brick wall leaning into the street.
Firefighters attempting to extinguish embers between a collapsed roof and the third floor of the administration building on Thursday discovered exactly how unstable the structure was. When crews used a clam-shell scoop to lift parts of the roof out of the building, the third flood and roof collapsed onto the second floor.
Although no one was injured in the incident, the crews then had three layers of smoldering debris, instead of two, and decided that simply dousing the area continually with water would be a safer tactic.
Canton Police Chief Mike Elam said Thursday that the cause of the fire remains undetermined.
"It has not been classified as an arson," Elam stressed.
Rumors that three teen-agers had been seen running from the fire, and were stopped and questioned by police regarding their involvement, was simply that, Elam said -- a rumor.
He did say, however, that a number of young adults were at the scene when police and firefighters first arrived. Elam said it is policy to question anyone at the scene for information they might have relating to a fire.
"We secured their identities for interviews at a later time," Elam said. "They are not suspects in any criminal case."
Canton Assistant Fire Chief John Stanko added, "These people said they were just drawn to the area by the fire itself."
A task force has been formed to investigate the cause and origin of the blaze. That group includes Canton fire and police investigators, the Fulton County Sheriff's Department, the State Fire Marshal's Office and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. The investigation will be in full-swing as soon as the plant area is determined safe.
"This won't be a short investigation by any stretch of the imagination," Assistant Fire Chief Stanko said. "We have a multi-agency task force with a lot of resources and a lot of manpower."
Fire crews plan to demolish any unstable walls or structures in the plant that endanger the safety of Canton residents or fire investigators.
"It's such a public safety thing now, we have to do it," Elam said of the demolition.
Mayor Don Edwards said the bill for the demolition will be sent to CyberAmerica Corp. (formerly CIC) in Salt Lake City. CyberAmerica is the parent corporation of Thistle Holdings, the owner of the Canton plant.
"We'll keep track of all our expenses," Edwards said. "It's certainly privately owned, and we'll send the bill to the guy who owns it."
Stanko said the city hasn't even begun to calculate the cost, but officials are certain it will be considerable. The cost of actually cleaning up the debris and rubble could easily be millions of dollars, according to officials.
Owners of the former IH plant said Thursday the property was valued at $328,000. However, to reconstruct the buildings destroyed by the fire would cost millions of dollars, officials said.
As far as cleaning up the debris, Edwards said he'll give the owner ample time to do it, but he doesn't want the rubble cluttering up downtown.
"We'll give them time to clean up the fiery remains, and if it's not cleaned up in a reasonable amount of time, we'll pursue the courts to see what action we can take to clean it up," he said.
In a perfect world, Edwards said he would like to see the owner clean up and develop the area for housing, commercial or industrial use. Two blocks from the square and 33 acres of ground, it's a prime location, Edwards said.
The problem, however, is that CyberAmerica (CIC) already owes the county and city more than $330,000 in delinquent property taxes dating back to 1988, according to the county clerk's office, and numerous leans have already been placed on the property. So, why doesn't the city take action to seize the property? "The city has no desire to own that property," Edwards said. "The city of Canton turned that building down for $1 when International Harvester closed.
"We didn't know what kind of industrial waste was there, and it was our desire to see a private company take it over. Now I'd like to see the company take care of their responsibilities."
However, the president of Thistle Holdings, Richard Surber, said there is no insurance on the building or on the $90,000 worth of equipment he said was stored there. Surber said he did not know what the company planned to do with the remaining rubble. @ART CAPTION: Canton Fire Department Lt. Jim Campbell seeks out the source Thursday of a smoldering hot spot in the upper floors of a building at the former International Harvester plant in Canton. Firefighters used a crane to lift burning material from the building. Canton Fire Department Lt. Jim Campbell seeks out the source Thursday of a smoldering hot spot in the upper floors of a building at the former International Harvester plant in Canton. Firefighters used a crane to lift burning material from the building. |
