LASALLE – The fire at Carus Chemical in LaSalle was caused by a pallet that caught fire according to officials. In a press release, Carus LLC says the root cause of the manufacturing facility fire on January 11th was a combination of events stemming from damaged packaging of Potassium Permanganate.
The company says the Potassium Permanganate was being transported from the warehouse to a waiting truck and was damaged in transit by a forklift truck. They say as the damaged package was being moved, friction caused by the forklift truck moving the support pallet likely ignited the material underneath the pallet. CEO Andy Johnston says the company is committed to lowering the risk of this ever happening again. Officials say they will continue to provide updates on cleanup and community support efforts.
