CHICAGO (CBS) — Firefighters spent several hours overnight battling huge flames at a southwest suburban recycling plant.
The blaze started as a small rubbish fire around 10:30 p.m. at Lakeshore Recycling Systems in Forest View. Strong winds and dry conditions helped fan the flames into a blazing inferno visible from the nearby Stevenson Expressway.
The fire damaged at least six semi-trailers and the sorting center.
About 60 firefighters from 14 departments blasted the scene with water. The Chicago Fire Department sent a fire boat to help extinguish the blaze by pumping water from the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal.
Windy conditions made it a tough battle for firefighters. So did access to hydrants.
“The first concern that we have is the water supply. There’s only one hydrant down in this area. The next one’s basically almost a mile away,” Forest View Fire Chief Larry Moran said. “So water is a huge issue, and the water we do have is of limited quantity, which is why we called Chicago to help with their boat that can supply a lot more water than we are through our hydrants over here.”
It took until around 4 a.m. for firefighters to bring the blaze under control. Officials said crews were expected to be on the scene most of the day Wednesday, to monitor hot spots, and prevent the fire from sparking up again.
Moran said this was the third fire at Lakeshore’s Heartland Recycling Center, and by far the largest. He said the company is lucky, however, as the fire did not damage a new facility on the site. The flames mostly consumed recycled trash.
“These are just large piles of recyclable garbage materials; you know, bales of cardboard and paper. Most of them sit outside, so there’s degradation of products. I doubt that we would ever know exactly what caused this, but we certainly have investigators who will be looking through it,” he said.
No injuries were reported.
from CBS Chicago https://ift.tt/2FBB6PV
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