An industrial fire Tuesday afternoon in Morris has prompted an evacuation order, officials said.
According to The Associated Press, the fire was at a warehouse where large batteries are stored.
Residents in the 900 block of Benton, Douglas, Armstrong and East Street have been ordered to evacuate, according to a Nixle alert from the Grundy County Emergency Management Agency.
The fire, rated severe, poses a significant threat to life and property, according to the alert.
Helicopter video from the area showed gray smoke billowing from a building that could barely be seen through the haze.
Residents who need a place to evacuate can go to the Grundy County Administration building at 1320 Union St.
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.
“You can’t spray water on it, it’s an explosive hazard,” he said. “We are waiting for additional resources to figure out how to fight it.”
Morris is about 68 miles southwest of downtown Chicago.
Doefler said the order was made out of concern about the effects of breathing the smoke from the fire. He did not immediately know how many people are affected by the evacuation order.
He said the cause of the fire has not been determined.
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.
The Associated Press contributed.
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