![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() “We have confirmed all on site are safe and accounted for. Sandra Martell of the Winnebago County Health Department also warned residents not to handle waste from fire with bare hands, noting the possibility it could be contaminated by chemicals used at the plant. Officials recommended people within a three-mile radius wear masks as a precaution.ĭr. He said both the state and federal EPA will be monitoring the air quality to make sure it remains safe for nearby residents. John Kim of the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency said the quality of the air near the burning plant is a primary concern for his agency. There were no immediate reports of injuries. She said after she walked outside to see black smoke and what appeared to be pieces of cardboard boxes and “small chunks of the building” falling from the sky, she called a police non-emergency line. One of those residents was 29-year-old Alyssa King. Trisha Diduch, the planning and development administrator for Rockton, said she estimates about 1,000 people were affected by the evacuation order. Pritzker's office expanded the evacuation zone from a 1- to a 2-mile radius from the plant “out of an abundance of caution,” and encouraged people within that zone to wear masks to prevent them from inhaling soot. warning that fire officials had ordered a mandatory evacuation of homes and businesses near the plant. The Rockton Police Department posted an alert at 8:46 a.m. Wilson said there was “no danger to air quality at ground level.” The plumes became so big they were being picked up on weather radar. Chemtool's parent company, Lubrizol Corp., later said there were closer to 50 employees present when the plant was evacuated. Rockton Fire Department Chief Kirk Wilson said about 70 employees were evacuated safely from the plant, and that one firefighter suffered a minor injury. The employee also told WTVO that staff have been evacuated in the past for small emergencies, but nothing on this scale.CHICAGO - An explosion at a northern Illinois chemical plant Monday morning sparked massive fires that sent flames and huge plumes of thick black smoke high into the air and debris raining onto the ground, prompting evacuations.Īfter 7 a.m., emergency crews rushed to the scene of the fire near Rockton, northwest of Chicago, at Chemtool Inc., a company that manufactures lubricants, grease products and other fluids, and is, according to the company, the largest manufacturer of grease in the Americas. The employee said the fire was possibly caused by the failure of a pipe that moved hot grease within the plant, WTVO reported. So far, air quality tests show the air is OK at ground level, Wilson said.Īn employee of the plant told a reporter with WTVO that he was at work for less than an hour when someone yelled “fire” and alarms went off. We’re thinking this will be a several-day event.”Īs a precaution, residents were evacuated within a mile of the plant, he said. “At this time, it’s in our best interest to let this product burn off. “We don’t want an environmental nightmare to occur,” Wilson said in a news conference Monday. #Fire #Emergency #911 #news #worldnews #rockton #Illinois #wkow #channel3000 #channel27 #foxnews #wfr #wifr #13wrex /Tw9Wr7ULBg- Jamie Nichole June 14, 2021 ![]()
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