116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
Time Machine: Toxic Tuesday
Thousands evacuated 40 years ago after fire at old Cedar Rapids sewer plant
The Gazette offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced.
Forty years ago, on Monday, July 15, 1985, at about 2:30 p.m., thick clouds of toxic fumes started to spread over south Cedar Rapids from a fire at the old sewage treatment plant at A and Burlington streets SW.
It was the final chapter in a plant built in 1934 after government officials became concerned about water pollution in the state. Most municipalities dumped raw sewage into state rivers and streams.
Plant’s history
In 1959, the plant was more than doubled in size to handle the waste from the city’s 90,000 residents and 500 industrial users. Ten years later, in an effort to manage the smell emanating from the plant, 27 concrete-reinforced Styrofoam domes were placed over the filter beds.
In March 1979, two of the domes collapsed under the weight of ice and snow. Public Improvements Commissioner Richard Phillips said the domes wouldn’t be replaced because the plant would be phased out in a year.
When the city’s new sewage treatment plant near Bertram went online, beginning Jan. 7, 1980, the old A Street plant was idled.
A few proposals emerged to repurpose the property.
Cedar Rapids Public Improvements Commissioner Wayne Murdock looked into using the old domes as grain silos for a small alcohol plant, saying the city could make its own gasohol for city vehicles. In February 1980, Murdock was looking into using the plant’s incinerator for a smelting operation.
Those ideas didn’t pan out and the city opted to demolish the plant, deeming it a hazard. United Wrecking Co. of Perry, Iowa, submitted the low bid for the wrecking contract in March 1985.
By July 15, 25 of the 27 domes had been dismantled.
The fire
As crews began work to demolish one of the last two domes, sparks from an employee’s cutting torch started a blaze in the polyvinyl chloride plastic filters in the dome.
The fire soon began producing heavy black smoke filled with hydrogen chloride gas.
At least 18 firefighters responded to the alarm and began fighting the fire. Hydrants near the plant had been disconnected before the demolition, so water had to be pumped from the nearby Cedar River.
“Until they were sure of success, officials asked all of the city’s large employers to shut down the next day,” The Gazette reported in a recap a year later. “No one was sure which area of town could be affected by the toxic smoke cloud if the wind shifted. Law enforcement officers sealed off the city’s main thoroughfares, turning back thousands of workers.”
A 7,000-foot plume of smoke soon hung over south Cedar Rapids and Johnson County.
After thousands of gallons of water were poured onto the flames, it was determined water was making the situation worse. The gas turned to an acid when exposed to water, and could cause choking and irritation of the eyes, nose and lungs.
An airport crash truck sprayed foam on the fire, but that was ineffective.
The plan switched immediately to transporting loads of dirt from the landfill to smother the flames.
Coonrod Wrecker & Crane Service brought in a crane, and Gee Grading started hauling dirt from the landfill. Dirt was dropped from the crane bucket, smothering the flames.
Evacuations
More than 5,000 people over 23 square miles were asked to evacuate their homes and relocate to designated relief sites. The Red Cross set up evacuee shelters.
Around midnight, the wind shifted from the northwest to the south.
Evacuees at Wilson Junior High School on J Street SW and Grant Elementary on Outlook Drive SW were loaded onto school buses and moved to Taft Junior High on E Avenue NW when the two schools were added to the evacuation area.
Elderly residents of Hawthorne Hills Apartments on C Street SW were first evacuated to a Wilson school locker room, then to Grant Elementary, then finally to Taft.
Campers at Lake Macbride State Park and residents of a Mount Vernon care center were also evacuated.
‘Toxic Tuesday’
Startling photos were published in the Tuesday, July 16, edition of The Gazette, of the smoky disaster that quickly had been dubbed “Toxic Tuesday.”
Twenty-two hours after the fire started, it was finally under control and residents in a 13-square-mile area of Linn and Johnson counties were allowed to return home.
By mid-afternoon on Toxic Tuesday, the emergency was over.
About two dozen people had been treated for eye and throat irritation, but there were no serious injuries or deaths from the incident.
Mayor Don Canney said in 2005 that Coonrad and Gee never billed the city for their work in putting out the fire.
There were lawsuits filed against United Wrecking and the city. Both were eventually dropped after United Wrecking went out of business and the city was ruled not culpable.
On July 17, 1985, two firefighters check the smoldering ruins of a water pollution treatment plant dome that caught fire July 15. The toxic fire started at the old plant during demolition work when a cutting torch ignited materials in the dome. The emitted fumes forced many area residents to be evacuated from their homes. (Gazette archives)
Cedar Rapids Mayor Don Canney speaks to evacuees Tuesday, July 16, 1985, at Taft Junior High School after they spent Monday night at the school. The people were forced to evacuate their homes after a nearby fire at the old water pollution treatment plant emitted toxic fumes. (Gazette archives)
Bulldozers and a firetruck are at the site of the old Cedar Rapids sewage treatment plant the afternoon of July 16, 1985, as the fire is brought under control in this aerial view, looking northwest. (Gazette archives)
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