FREDERICKTOWN, Mo. – Jessica Wooster could see the fire at Critical Mineral Recovery from her house in Fredericktown.
“We came outside and there was just smoke billowing out from all ends,” she said.
That thick smoke came from Critical Mineral Recovery, a battery recycling facility.
An attorney representing the company said the fire started when a machine was processing Cathode Foil, a part of a lithium-ion battery that can combust at certain temperatures.
“We were concerned about what was in the air. Whenever we came inside, about 30 minutes after it started we started getting a headache and you could taste something on your tongue,” Wooster said.
The EPA has crews on the ground monitoring the air around the facility.
“We’re going one step at a time. So we’ve been air monitoring since we arrived. We did that today working with the local community. We’re doing roving which is mobile and stationary,” EPA on-scene coordinator Joe Krauska said.
FOX 2 has learned that CMR has ties to another recycling facility that has had two other large fires since 2020.
In a 2022 filing with the state, Interco Trading Company’s CEO Robert Feldman is listed as the president of Critical Mineral Recovery.
Interco Metaltronics Recycling Warehouse in Madison, Illinois has had two large fires in recent years. In 2020, more than 20 different agencies helped respond to a large fire at Interco. In August, 2022, 200 first responders were called out to the same facility. That fire caused a shelter in place for a mile and a half around the facility.
Al Watkins is an attorney for CRM.
“Working with lithium-ion batteries has risks inherently. In Madison, IL, it did not have a fire ever that was caused by lithium-ion batteries,” he said.
He said the Fredericktown fire shows the company has effective safety measures in place.
The company claims this facility has one of the most sophisticated fire suppression systems in the world.
“They were very successful in that front. We had no injuries in Fredericktown, no deaths in Fredericktown, no neighbors were hospitalized, no pets were lost. Life is what’s important,” Watkins said.
But Thursday, out of precaution, some people were still under an evacuation advisory.
“Really listen to those evacuation advisories. Keep working with one another in your community,” Krauska said.
Wooster is now keeping her family’s Halloween fun indoors.
“We’re not doing trick or treating. We’re taking it easy today,” she said.
There’s no timeframe for how long the EPA will monitor the air.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
