The substance that sent an Illinois Department of Human Services employee at Rushville to the hospital yesterday morning has been identified.
WGEM says that the substance was identified by the Peoria Hazmat Team along with the Illinois State Police, but information about what exactly the “white powdery substance” was has not been released.
According to ISP, the employee developed similar symptoms to being exposed to a hazardous substance. The employee was treated by the nursing staff and transported by an ambulance to a local hospital yesterday morning.
According to the Peoria Fire Department, they were informed of the incident by the ISP Division of Criminal Investigation Zone 4 and responded at 11:15 a.m. WGEM reports that Hazmat technicians entered isolated areas where the substance was and were able to identify it. The technicians collected it for ISP’s investigation. No injuries or other exposures have been reported.
After a proper cleaning in the exposed areas, lockdown at the facility is reported to have ended around 5:30PM yesterday with no further threats to the community, according to officials.