TEUTOPOLIS, Ill. (WCIA) — It’s been three months since a tragedy hit Teutopolis.
On Sept. 29, a tanker truck carrying anhydrous ammonia got into a crash on Route 40, just east of the village. It caused around half of the 7,500 gallons of ammonia the truck was carrying to leak out, which killed 5 people.
Since then, the small village in Effingham County with a population of around 1,600 residents has rallied together to organize events and give back to first responders.
Jerry Runde of the Teutopolis Civic Club will never forget the day. He said someone warned him seconds before he smelled ammonia.
“Somebody ran to the hall and ran right towards us and said they got a phone call, you need to evacuate, there’s been an anhydrous spill,” he told WCIA.
He packed up his van and evacuated with his family as fast as they could.
“Everything was happening so rapidly that to keep up to date or up to tune on what was going on,” David Repking, the mayor of T-Town, recounted.
Repking can’t thank all the responding fire departments enough for their fast action.
“[I] talked to a mother of one of the ambulance attendees that was out there,” Repking said. “He said it was the worst night he’s ever had. Just trying to get to the people, trying to help them out and get oxygen. It was quite the emotional toll.”
Throughout the weekend of the accident, the Teutopolis Civic Club pitched in by acting as the first responders for the first responders.
“You can tell these guys have been up 24+ hours,” Runde said. “I said ‘what do you need? What can I get ya?’ He goes ‘I just need caffeinated soda.”
It didn’t take long to get soda.
“Shoot, we had more caffeinated soda than you find at Walmart within two hours.” Runde said. “It was nuts. The amount of people that just keep showing up. Tongue and cheek, I told him later, ‘If you want a golden goose, let me know. I’ll probably have one in 30 minutes.'”
Three month later, the village’s support hasn’t wavered. Residents have given gift cards to local businesses for all the fire department volunteers in Teutopolis and Montrose, totaling to around $30,000.
“It’s just simply amazing,” Runde said. “The town never surprises us.”
“It makes you feel great and humble,” the mayor said. “That’s what this community and this whole area is about. When somebody needs help, they’re there.”
The National Transportation Safety Board and State Police are still investigating parts of the accidents.
According to the mayor, the house where the spill happened is still fenced off, and believes the family is not allowed inside.
Improvements to T-Town
Teutopolis Fire Chief Tim McMahon said the fire department is looking to invest into a new drone system to help identify various spills and hazards moving forward. The department has also reviewed the incident and are working on doing a larger one with more people to use as a learning tool.
That’s not the only update since the spill. A county notification altered many residents to evacuate the night of the spill.
Many residents didn’t get any notification whatsoever, so Teutopolis is taking it upon themselves to fix the system.
“We’ve added a secondary notification system and if there’s anybody out in the community or area around that would like to get on it, they can get to our website and it has all the instructions how to sign up for it,” Repking said. “It will not set off an alarm, but will send out a text notification.”
The village can also use the notifications for non-emergency updates. To sign up for the text system, text TEUTOPOLIS to 91896.
