Eau Claire (WQOW) - Although Tuesday night's fire did not cause law enforcement to evacuate homes, many nearby residents were uneasy.
Residents in a neighborhood about a quarter mile from the plant said the explosion was so loud it rattled the windows in their homes. Many lived in these same homes three years ago when there was a much larger fire at WRR. Tuesday night, they said those memories came rushing back.
"We were out right here having a bonfire with some friends, we heard a big boom and everyone was like, 'What was that?,'" says Wynter Stearns.
"At first, I thought maybe we had a plane crash in the neighborhood. The explosion was that loud," says Tom Koziol.
Instead, the explosion was at WRR Environmental Services, as hundreds of gallons of ink wash blew up. The whole thing reminded Tom Koziol of this fire at WRR in 2007.
"At the plant three years ago, that particular fire and explosion was of a remarkable size and we thought that was a fluke, freak accident--a once-in-a-lifetime thing," he says. "To have this happen again we thought, "Here we go again.'"
Even though Tuesday's fire did not lead to mandatory evacuations, some people, like Donna Skille, didn't want to chance it.
"We gathered up everything, all the pets and the baby," Donna says.
Following the fire three years ago, WRR took action to monitor any environmental impact the explosion may have caused. Residents say the company paid for the testing of wells and groundwater in nearby neighborhoods.
"WRR has been a good business neighbor," Tom says, "and that's the thing that helps calm our fears living this close to it."
Now, some of those fears have been rekindled and these neighbors say they have a lot of questions they want answered.
"Is there a danger of chemical vapors or toxic fumes or anything like that, that people need to be aware of?," Wynter says.
"We have a new baby with new lungs and who knows if 20 or 30 years down the road, she develops a problem. Who would trace it back to this?," Donna says.
Other neighbors say after the second fire in three years, they wonder if a more permanent solution should be considered.
"In a perfect world, I would wish that there would be some assistance for them. Maybe government money where they could be relocated to an area which is more wide open, especially if fires and explosions, God forbid, might be some sort of commonplace event in the future."
WRR did do some groundwater and well testing in these very neighborhoods three years ago. The DNR has said it believes none of the water used to fight the fire seeped into the soil and further testing will probably not be necessary this time around.
