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The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency has issued an Areawide Air Pollution Action Day for Sunday, July 19th. This is in addition to the ongoing Chicago Air Pollu tion Action Day in effect today July 18th. This alert includes all of Illinois’ Air Quality Index (AQI) forecast sectors, except Metro-East St. Louis. Visit www.AirNow.gov to stay up to date on current conditions. 

Nova-Kem Chemical Fire

Seward, Illinois
Winnebago County

On June 2, 2013, Nova-Kem’s chemical manufacturing and repackaging plant in Seward, Illinois experienced an explosion and fire. The plant manufactures chemicals for high-technology applications, especially in semi-conductors, and it also repackages chemicals. Because the main chemical that is manufactured at the site, hexachlorodisilane (HCDS), is highly reactive to water, the building was allowed to burn and subsequently a nearby building also caught fire. The fire ended on June 3, 2013. 

Contact

For more information, please contact the Illinois EPA Office of Community Relations. Additional documents not available on this webpage may be obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request or through IEPA Document Explorer.