Catoosa Residents Say 'Booms' Are Damaging Homes

Catoosa neighbors are fed up with hearing loud explosions in their neighborhood from a nearby recycling plant.

They said the booms are coming from CMC Recycling and has blown out windows, caused plumbing issues and cracked foundations.

Monday the city held a meeting to hear their concerns and eight residents told city councilors they've had enough.

Some were in tears, saying the booms have destroyed their houses. They say the booms sound like bombs going off and started a few years ago.

Lola Sappington has cracks in her walls, porch and kitchen ceiling.

“This is going to fall. And you can look at that and tell if we get another big boom it's going to fall down on us, and we will have to repair it," Sappington said.

She watched the crack grow seconds after a boom, she claims, came from CMC Recycling a few blocks away.

"It went off and I happened to look up and it just spread all across my ceiling," she said.

Sappington's neighbor, Katie Rowley, has cracks in her bathroom tiles and leaks in her five-year-old roof.

"It's starting to separate, and you can see here where the nails are starting to come off," she said.

During a meeting Monday night, neighbors voiced their concern to city leaders, telling them the booms started about four years ago when the recycling center got a shredder.

City leaders said they've talked to CMC Recycling and the company said the explosions are accidental, and caused when a fuel tank goes through the shredder.

Neighbors want CMC Recycling to pay for damages or buy all their houses so they can get away from the loud and damaging noise.

"I feel like they ought to be responsible for some of it - getting it fixed - because it won't be a small job or small expense,” Sappington said.

Rowley said, "This is the place where I thought I'd live the rest of my life, and now I'm really at the point where I would like to move."

Some of the neighbors who live in the area are veterans and have post-traumatic stress disorder; they are also worried about the toll it's taken on their health.

Since the explosions are accidental, the city said it's unregulated and they aren't sure what they can do to stop it but are working with the city attorney and Environmental Protection Agency to come up with a solution.

We reached out to CMC Recycling but never received a response. The city said they were invited to the meeting, but the company said all of its managers were out of town.