More than 5,000 residents and workers were evacuated from the area around an ethanol plant in Peoria, Illinois, after a bomb was found at the BioUrja Renewables facility on Friday, November 13, 2026.
Police received the first report just after 1 p.m. CT on Friday, and the suspicious package was identified about an hour later. Bomb technicians rendered the device safe on Friday evening. Officials said the threat was credible. “We know it’s a credible threat. We know it’s a bomb,” Peoria Mayor Rita Ali said. Police Chief Brad Dixon added: “This is not the case here… We found a credible package there deemed to be a threat… We’re not considering this a hoax.”
The evacuation covered a one-mile blast radius around the downtown-area plant, a zone set because of the material surrounding the device inside the plant. Officers knocked on doors overnight to make sure people had left. Shelters were opened at Manual Academy High School and the EastSide Centre in East Peoria. A Jon Pardi concert at the Peoria Civic Center, where about 2,000 people were inside, was cancelled.
The evacuation order was lifted on Saturday afternoon, around 1 p.m. CT — about 24 hours after it began — after investigators searched the sprawling facility, which spans several floors and covers more than 44 football fields, and found no additional devices. The U.S. Coast Guard also lifted its safety zone on the river at 1 p.m. CT.
The FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives assisted, with bomb technicians and certified explosive specialists. No injuries were reported and no arrests have been made. Officials have not identified a suspect or a motive, and the search continues for the person or persons responsible. Illinois Governor JB Pritzker is monitoring the situation and has directed the Illinois State Police to coordinate the response.
Peoria, a city of about 110,000 people, sits about 130 miles southwest of Chicago, and the plant is located along the Illinois River.
Source: CNN
