UPDATE (6/7): More people both north and south of the Fike test facility on Missouri 7 Highway say they have called their city to get answers about what they are doing to address the sounds, and have not received sufficient answers.
“If it’s shaking and rattling our home over several years periodically, it’s got to be doing something to the structure,” said Country Club North resident Patty Solsberg, who called Blue Springs code enforcement division about the noise and was told they don’t know who is causing it. “I was a little upset. I said, 'You know we’re residents of your city and our houses are shaking and this has been going on for years, what do you mean you don’t know?'”
In a statement, the city of Blue Springs says in part:
“We have reached out to our community partners as this involves multiple jurisdictions and private organizations to find the source of the issues and try to develop a workable strategy within our capacities.
We have notified the Independence and Jackson County residents that contacted us to let them know we are working on identifying the issues and how we can mitigate them if possible.”
Blue Springs also says it is checking with municipal courts to get a better understanding of the laws surrounding noise caused by explosions in case the source is within Blue Springs jurisdiction.
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Residents in the rural eastern Independence area of Truman, Flynn and Argo roads are frustrated with the “who’s doing it?” game they’ve been asking ever since hearing what they describe as often violent “deep of an earth kind of movement” explosions going off from the south.
“It’s just like, BOOM. I’m jumping,” said Lee Clevenger. “They scare my dog. She runs to get into the basement when she hears those big booms.”
Clevenger’s neighbor Bill Shepherd says the explosions are random and vary in strength.
“The big ones will actually rattle the windows in my house. I’ve seen it make ripples on my pond. It scares the animals,” said Bill Shepherd.
Another woman who lives on Flynn Road has another description of the sound.
“It feels like my whole house is just shaking. It feels like a bomb is actually going off in my backyard,” said the woman, who wished to remain anonymous.
Loud, military explosion sounds in the distance are not uncommon for this neighborhood. Three miles to the north in Lake City sits ATK Ammunition Plant, but Clevenger says the noises are not the same and are not coming from that direction.
“They [ATK] have these big machine guns going off every now and then and they are loud and noisy,” said Clevenger. “It’s not like a duh duh duh duh, it’s just a boom.”
Combustion test to the south
Some in the neighborhood believe Fike Corporation is the culprit.
“They do some sort of pressure testing at their facility up here off of 7,” said the woman who wished to remain anonymous.
Fike does operate a remote facility off of MO-7 near the Independence/Blue Springs border, roughly two miles from the residents who are speaking out.
A representative for Fike corporation says the neighbors could very well be hearing their “simulated combustible dust explosions.”
In a statement, the representative says in part:
"Fike has received calls regarding our test facility activities. We are taking the questions and concerns seriously and are investigating ways to mitigate the issues that concern our neighbors.
"Fike simulates combustible dust explosions in a contained and controlled environment so we can understand the science. We help our customers understand possible facility and process risks. Fike then designs and manufactures safety equipment to help mitigate incidents. We have many customers in the food, beverage, automotive and pharmaceutical industries so many of our tests involve combustible dust common to those industries – for example, corn starch. Fike conducts testing for industrial safety equipment. We do not use explosives such as dynamite in our testing.
"Fike is a global leader in this technology and among only a few companies in the world that has the expertise to conduct these kinds of tests for industrial companies."
Neighbors want resolution
Shepherd and Clevenger hope if it is Fike, the company will use technology to restore the quiet country noise and ease their worries about the integrity of their homes' structures.
“They should try to eliminate the pollution. Noise is pollution,” said Clevenger. “If it’s underground, try to get it a little further underground or find some other way to do what they’re doing that there’s not a whole lot of noise or explosions involved.”
“I’ve got cracks in my foundation,” said Shepherd. “It can’t be doing our homes any good if it’s rattling our windows.”
Independence officials say any resident who has concerns should call the community development director of Blue Springs, since Fike Corporation is headquartered there.
The number for Director Scott Allen is 816-228-0211.
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Brian Abel can be reached at brian.abel@kshb.com.
