ROCKTON, Ill. (WLS) — A massive fire at a Rockton, Illinois Chemtool plan continues to burn for a second day Tuesday.
The massive chemical plant went up in flames around 7 a.m. Monday and firefighters say it could burn for several days.
The Rockton Fire Department has ordered a mandatory evacuation affecting all residents and businesses within one mile of Chemtool.
Fire officials said potentially toxic compounds like lead, nitrogen and sulfuric acids only fueled the flames and that drowning the fire with water simply isn’t an option.
“Oh yeah, they heard it,” said Melodie Chamberlain, whose family has been forced from their home. “My grandson woke up my daughter in law and said ‘mom you gotta wake up, there’s a vibration on our fireplace.”
The thick black smoke from the fire is visible from 40 miles away. Despite the danger, many nearby residents still came to get a closer look.
Chemtool, which produces industrial lubricants, says all of its 70 employees were able to evacuate without injury. A firefighter was transported for minor injuries, Rockton Fire Chief Kirk Wilson.
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Village officials, concerned about nearby residents, evacuated people from a one mile radius, about 150 homes, as a precaution. They say air testing showed no danger at ground level. But they are concerned about the nearby Rock River.
“The main thing we don’t want is an environmental nightmare to occur,” said Chief Wilson.
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Amateur photographer Jason Decker first saw the smoke from his home a couple miles away early in the morning. He captured video from a neighbor’s yard as firefighters battled the flames in the early stages.
“It was raining on us. Embers falling on us,” Decker said.
For Laura Buffum and her family, including their dog Krypto, Monday morning dawned with the sound of what was believed to be intense roadwork. Soon, in her block a half-mile south of the Chemtool plant, neighbors were on their lawns strategizing about an emergency.
“The dog started barking this morning and I went outside because I noticed a lot of my neighbor standing out looking,” Buffum said. “And I looked and saw this big huge smoke but nobody knew what was on fire. The next-door neighbor came over and told us to chemical plant is actually on fire and the police would recommend you leave the area.”
She and her family had little time to think, so they first went to nearby Machesney Park before hightailing it six miles to Roscoe Middle School.
Rockton Fire ordered the mandatory evacuation, and the notice affects all residents and businesses in a one-mile radius of 1165 Prairie Hill Road. Drivers are advised to avoid the area and anyone within three miles is advised to wear a mask while outside to protect themselves from the dangerous smoke, according to Rockton officials.
Evacuated residents were advised to proceed to Stephen Mack Middle School, but the evacuation site has been moved to Roscoe Middle School that has since been converted into a Red Cross shelter, Rockton police said.
There, evacuees are being provided with food and cots for sleeping. Pets are also allowed.
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A source telling ABC7 said several seniors from an evacuated assisted living facility are now staying at the shelter. The Red Cross has prepared the shelter to house hundreds of people, which the agency said it prepared to scale up if needed.
The Salvation Army Emergency Disaster Services (EDS) out of Elk Grove Village is also feeding and comforting the evacuees who do not know when they will be able to return home, nor what they will find when they get there.
“I have never seen a blaze that big before and it is just tremendous the number of people out there,” said Donna Ceglarek, a Salvation Army volunteer.
“I am very scared that my house will go on fire, but I know the fire department will protect our community,” said Justice Sprague.
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