Industrial fire involving lithium batteries forces evacuations in Morris
MORRIS, Ill. - An industrial fire at a suburban Chicago warehouse where large batteries are stored prompted officials to order the evacuation of nearby residences Tuesday.
Nick Doefler, a spokesman for the agencies responding to the fire, said there were no reported injuries related to the fire at a subdivided warehouse in Morris that used to be a paper mill. The blaze started around noon.
He said firefighters at the scene were awaiting instructions on how to combat the blaze, explaining that because the batteries are inside, they can’t extinguish it with water.
"We were advised that we’re dealing with between 80 and 100 tons of lithium batteries, so around 180,000 pounds to 200,000 pounds of lithium batteries," said Morris Fire Protection & Ambulance District Chief Tracey Steffes. "These batteries range in size from your cell phone to a little bigger than a car battery and as these batteries get wet, they short out and they ignite and explode. And that’s the problem we’re having.″
Another hazard firefighters are dealing with is the fumes from the fire, Steffes said.
Grundy County officials issued an evacuation notice for residents in the 900 blocks of Benton, Douglas and Armstrong streets. Residents living on East Street were also urged to evacuate.
The evacuation order will be in place until 9 p.m. Wednesday, and it could be extended, Morris officials said.
The Grundy County administration building at 1320 Union Street was being used as a reception site for evacuees.
Officials said the order was made out of concern about the effects of breathing the smoke from the fire. Anywhere from 4,000 to 5,000 residents were evacuated.
The cause of the fire has not been determined.
Morris is about 68 miles southwest of Chicago along the Illinois River.
The evacuation comes two weeks after an explosion and massive fire at a chemical plant near Rockton, an Illinois community along the Wisconsin border, forced the evacuation of hundreds of homes for several days as the fire burned. Nobody at the plant or the surrounding community was injured by the June 13 fire that officials later determined was started accidentally during maintenance work.
"One good thing about the Rockton fire is there’s been some resources very close to us, that would not have been here if the Rockton fire hadn’t happened," Steffes said, adding that the Morris fire is on a smaller scale and different from the Rockton plant fire.
Associated Press contributed to this report.