Massive chemical fire at Illinois plant will burn for days

A massive industrial fire at a chemical plant in Illinois that started Monday (June 14) will likely be allowed to burn for days in order to avoid having chemically-polluted water from fire-fighting efforts runoff into a nearby river, a local fire official said.

"We're thinking that this is going to be a several-day event to have all this product burned off," Rockton Fire Chief Kirk Wilson told reporters. "The main thing is that we don't want an environmental nightmare to occur," he said.

The Chemtool plant in Rockton, which manufactures oil-based lubricants, sits 300 meters from the Rock River, Wilson said, adding that the concern is that water used to put out the massive blaze could runoff into the river.

Crews have stopped their "water suppression" efforts and will allow the blaze to consume the chemicals at the site over what they believe will take several days, he said.

Air quality analysis was under way by several agencies including the city's hazmat (hazardous material) crew, Wilson said, adding that there was no danger to air quality at "ground level".

The fast-moving, wind-driven fire had already engulfed the roof of the plant when fire crews responded to the scene, Wilson told reporters.

The giant plume of black smoke hovering over the burning plant could be seen from Chicago nearly 100 miles away (160 kilometers) , the Chicago NBC news station said.

Authorities issued a mandatory evacuation order for people within a one mile (1.6 kilometers) radius of the facility, Wilson said.

Local media reported that some nearby residents heard some small explosions on Monday morning (June 14).

It was not immediately clear what caused the blaze. Wilson said some 70 plant workers were safely evacuated from the site with no injuries and that one fire fighter suffered minor injuries.

Officials were telling residents to stay away from the area for at least a few hours in part to evaluate if there was any chemical product runoff and in which direction it may be moving, Wilson said.

(Source: Reuters)

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