Authorities in Peoria, Illinois, lifted a one-mile evacuation order and reopened a four-mile stretch of the Illinois River at 1 p.m. CST on Saturday, Nov. 14, after bomb technicians cleared the BioUrja Renewables ethanol plant. The all-clear ended a nearly 24-hour emergency response to a Peoria bomb threat after local, state and federal officers neutralized a suspicious package on Friday night and searched the industrial site for additional hazards.
“State, Federal, and Local Law Enforcement have done an extensive search of the BioUrja facility. They have found no other items of concern at this time. The evacuation order will no longer be in effect,” the Peoria Police Department said in a Saturday afternoon release. Police removed street barricades across downtown Peoria and neighboring East Peoria, allowing displaced residents and business owners to return and commercial barge traffic to resume on the river.
How the Peoria bomb threat unfolded
According to Peoria Police Chief Brad Dixon, BioUrja Renewables contacted police at 1:08 p.m. CST on Friday, Nov. 13, after receiving an electronic bomb threat at its 1 Edmund Street facility. Responding officers located a suspicious package on the property around 2 p.m. and determined at 6:45 p.m. that the item posed a credible threat, public radio station WCBU reported.
Officials urged everyone within a one-mile radius of the riverfront complex to leave on Friday evening because the plant stores large volumes of ethanol and other highly combustible chemicals. “Nationally when a bomb threat comes in, typically it’s not legitimate and it wouldn’t cause an evacuation of a building or something like that. This is not the case here,” Dixon told reporters during an early Saturday briefing. Bomb technicians rendered the suspicious device safe at approximately 9:12 p.m. on Friday, with no injuries reported.
Because the threat arrived after dark, law enforcement waited until daybreak on Saturday to sweep the remainder of the BioUrja complex, which spans roughly 44.5 football fields. Houston-based BioUrja Group acquired the Peoria ethanol and alcohol production facility, formerly an Archer Daniels Midland plant, in 2021. Bomb technicians and plant employees began searching the buildings around 6 a.m. on Saturday, paused briefly between 9:45 a.m. and 10:15 a.m. for technical issues, and finished clearing the property shortly before 1 p.m.
Shelters, river closures and canceled events
The one-mile evacuation zone covered parts of downtown Peoria, the Warehouse District and sections of East Peoria across the river. While CBS Chicago initially described the Friday night alert as a mandatory evacuation order, Peoria Mayor Rita Ali clarified at Saturday’s briefing that leaving was not legally mandatory, telling residents, “You don’t have to [evacuate], but we think it’s important.” Roughly 60 to 80 people stayed overnight at an emergency shelter at Manual High School equipped with cots and blankets from the American Red Cross, while East Peoria opened a second shelter at EastSide Centre. Dixon said on Saturday that he could not recall Peoria ever having to move so many residents from so many locations during his career.
Police closed surrounding roadways, including the Bob Michel Bridge, while the U.S. Coast Guard shut down the Illinois River to vessel traffic between mile markers 160 and 164. Coast Guard Capt. Brandy Parker noted “the importance of the Illinois River to regional and national commerce” while explaining the temporary four-mile safety perimeter. The evacuation also forced the Peoria Civic Center to postpone country singer Jon Pardi’s Friday night concert, Saturday’s Peoria Rivermen hockey game and the Saturday schedule of a local Comic Con event, while the Peoria Riverfront Museum and nearby public library branches closed for the day.
Questions over the device and ongoing investigation
City officials offered differing descriptions of the package during the standoff. On Friday night, Ali told WMBD-TV, “A device has been identified. We know it’s a credible threat. We know it’s a bomb.” On Saturday, Dixon said specialists were still analyzing the rendered-safe item to determine whether it contained actual explosives, adding, “We dealt with it last night and that process of determining what was in that device is underway currently.” Ali later told WCBU on Saturday afternoon that she had used lay terms to convey the seriousness of the situation and agreed that police were right to wait for forensic results before labeling the item a bomb.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker directed the Illinois State Police on Friday night to assist the Peoria Police Department, Peoria Fire Department, Peoria County Sheriff’s Office, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the FBI’s Springfield office. No arrests have been announced, and police have not confirmed online rumors that officers were searching for additional devices beyond the precautionary sweep. “We will work tirelessly to identify the individual responsible and bring them to justice,” FBI Special Agent Ryan Presley said in a statement reported by the Associated Press. Houston-based BioUrja Group did not send a representative to the police briefings and has not responded to media requests for comment.