Morris fire chief: Fire could take up to 4 weeks to finish burning out

MORRIS – Morris Fire Protection and Ambulance District Chief Tracey Steffes gave an update Friday afternoon regarding the industrial fire at 919 E. Benton St. in Morris.

Steffes said this is one of the largest fires involving lithium batteries that the nation has seen.

“This is a call across the nation to educate our first responders and the manufacturers of these batteries,” he said. “As we see more and more electric vehicles on the road, we need to be prepared if something like this happens again.

“It’s hard to find any information on how to combat something like this. We need federal and state agencies to form a task force and come up with how to respond to something like this. Are there other communities that could have something like this happen? I am sure there are, all over the country.

“The lithium battery manufacturers need to reach out to federal and state agencies to work together to learn how these burn and how to extinguish them.”

Firefighters were able to use drones equipped with thermal imaging, which were supplied by the Morris Police Department and Grundy County Sheriff’s Office, to see different spots in which fires opened up because of thermal runaway of the lithium batteries in the building.

“We started to see smoke come up out of the Portland cement, and it would push out, then collapse on itself,” he said, referring to the material firefighters used to douse the blaze. “Then it would push out and collapse on itself again. As the batteries degrade, the cement seals it up, so that is working well.”

He said citizen safety is the first concern. Officials did not decide to remove the evacuation order until after multiple air test results had come back with levels low enough to allow residents back in the area, Steffes said.

“When we got one good test, I wanted two,” he said. “We ended up with three.”

Steffes said crews have finished digging a trench outside the building to catch any water runoff in case water needs to be used to fight any more fires that may start in the future.

“The trench we dug holds 50,000 gallons,” he said. “We have a frac tank that holds an additional 40,000 gallons, so if we have to use water, we will be able to collect it and transport it out of there so it doesn’t run into the Illinois River.

“The plan is just to let it burn out now. I will say to residents, if you see smoke, that will happen from time to time. We have been told it could take anywhere from five days to three to four weeks to burn out. There will be a presence at the scene at all times for the purpose of monitoring the fire and suppressing it if needed.”