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Post by cooter on Dec 6, 2007 18:08:50 GMT -5
This was a 5th level MABAS box alarm... it came a terrible time due the snow that is coming tonight and the fact they lost the entire fleet of plow and work trucks! This happened on Weds. evening Morris is about 40 minutes south of me... We went on the on the +1 tanker box special alarm, but were returned about 15 minutes after going enroute we never got on scene. 6 master streams 30 Tankers... BIOTCH!!!! :-) 4 ladder trucks... all flowing! 8 Engines Approx. 160 FF's  More links here... I'll post more updates when they become available!!! MORRIS, Ill. -- Authorities said a fire engulfed a building in Grundy County in northern Illinois. The Morris Fire Department said the building was ablaze on Wednesday evening in the community 50 miles southwest of Chicago. A motorist spotted the flames and called 911 at about 6:15 p.m. The burning structure housed Grundy County government equipment, including 12 snow plows and dump trucks. It is an isolated building located in a rural area about four miles from the city of Morris. A lack of accessibility to water made fighting the fire more difficult. NBC5 reported that firefighters battled the flames for four hours. The county's snow fleet was destroyed as the vehicles exploded one-by-one in the inferno. With snow forecasted overnight Thursday, Grundy County officials are asking nearby communities to assist. |
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Post by cooter on Dec 6, 2007 18:09:21 GMT -5
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Post by cooter on Dec 6, 2007 18:11:36 GMT -5
From the Morris Daily Herald...
‘We're Regrouping'
Fire destroys County Highway Department
Fencing blocks off the Grundy County Highway Department building on East DuPont Road, which was destroyed Wednesday evening by flames. The blaze is not suspicious in nature but has left the department scrambling to prepare for plowing duties associated with a fresh snowfall expected tonight. (Herald Photo/Jo Ann Hustis)
Surrounding counties and townships - and some from much farther away - are offering their assistance in the wake of the devastating fire Wednesday that destroyed the Grundy County Highway Department and its equipment.
No one was injured in the blaze, which destroyed more than $1 million in the building and equipment, including six tandem-axle snowplow trucks, one straight truck, three pickup trucks, and a Ford Explorer.
The blaze was reported at 6:20 p.m., just under an hour after the employees left for the day, but does not appear to be suspicious in nature, Grundy County Sheriff Terry Marketti said.
Meanwhile, County Highway Engineer Craig Cassem and the Grundy County Board today began regrouping after the loss and began moving forward, Chairman Frank Halpin noted.
“The facility has been secured, and we're meeting with the State Fire Marshal's office now and investigating everything,” Halpin said.
He said two neighboring counties are offering three snowplow trucks to Grundy County for use during the snowstorm tonight, which is expected to dump up to four inches on the area.
“We got a call this morning from St. Louis with the offer of a snowplow by someone who saw the fire on the news,” Halpin said. “We've got a list of counties and townships offering to help.”
Halpin said Chairman Don Neushwander Sr. and the County Highway Committee are meeting with the Finance Committee today to go over the incident and plan for the future.
“Don's got a lot of experience,” Halpin said. “They've got lots of decisions to make.”
Several vehicles destroyed Wednesday in the Grundy County Highway Department blaze remain on the east side of the building. The damage to the building and equipment is estimated at more than $1 million. (Herald Photo/Jo Ann Hustis)
The Highway Department office is being moved to the basement training room at the Sheriff's Department in Morris. Communication lines were expected to be in place by noon today.
Highway department work crews are being staged at the Wauponsee Township building, as per the offer by the township.
“Our main concern right now is securing snow plowing equipment,” said Halpin. “Townships have offered to plow our roads. Our biggest problem will be coordinating everything.”
More than 50 firefighters from departments in Will, Grundy, and La Salle counties fought the flames in temperatures hovering just above zero.
“They lost everything - the building and contents,” said Morris Assistant Fire Chief Bob Wills today.
“All their equipment, snowplows, salt spreaders, pickup trucks ... it's a massive loss. It will not be overnight before they're back up and running. But, everybody's coming to their aid.”
Authorities do not know at this point what started the fire or where in the building it began.
Wills said the call came in while firefighters were trying to thaw out their equipment from answering the call to a residential blaze in Wilmington.
The CHD building was fully engulfed when the Morris Fire Department arrived at 6:33 p.m., he said.
“From front to back,” he said. “We went into the master stream defensive attack, where we used a large-caliber hose stream and power ladders to try to get a handle on it.”
Because there is no municipal water supply at the site, about six miles south of Morris on East DuPont Road, all water had to be trucked in to fight the blaze.
Wills said the department issued a tanker box alarm, and about 10 neighboring departments were on the scene in about 20 minutes.
“It took everybody a long time to get there, considering the cold and stuff. Once they got there, everyone did a fantastic job,” Wills said.
Among those assisting was the Morris Public Works Department with pickup trucks and a backhoe to rip siding off the steel building. All the CHD employees were also on hand to assist.
“They stayed with us all night,” said Wills. “And the firefighters - I can't say enough about all the mutual aid people who do such a fantastic job. We rely on them.”
Firefighters had a handle on the blaze by 9 p.m., and left the scene after midnight.
“It was very cold out,” said Wills. “The fire was bad enough, but dealing with the elements gave us more problems. We had to deal with the cold because everything freezes. We had to keep the water running in the hoselines or they'd freeze up. We had to battle everything.”
Wills said the incident is one of the more-memorable fires in recent history, and the first five-alarm fire the department has had in quite some time.
“The damage will be high in numbers,” he said. “It will be well over $1 million.”
Director Jim Lutz of the Grundy County Emergency Management Agency said the fuel tanks were far enough away from the CHD building to where they did not ignite from the blaze.
“Some fuels and oils and herbicides and such were consumed by the fire,” he said. “But the fire was hot enough where it consumed 98 to 99 percent of this, and so there was no danger to the public,” he noted. “The smoke from the blaze was not a good thing, but I wouldn't think there were any contaminant's released outside of a normal structure fire.”
Lutz said the blaze was pretty significant, to the point where flames and heat melted the steel beams that supported the roof.
“Morris Public Works brought in their backhoe and ripped the siding off the building so firefighters could get to the blaze,” he said.
Lutz said the focus for the county is to establish continuity of operation.
“They are doing a really good job working through it,” he said. “The board chairman and members are working through what needs to be done.”
Lutz said he is amazed at how well the process is working.
“Craig (Cassem) has always been a forward thinker, so he had some idea how to handle that last night while the building was burning,” said Lutz. “All-in-all, everybody's doing the best they can to deal with a trying situation.”
Grundy County Sheriff Terry Marketti said the blaze was reported by a passerby. He said Morris Fire Chief Bob Coleman immediately gave the five-alarm call.
“A great call on his behalf,” said Marketti. “He had the personnel and equipment there, and fire trucks constantly in line, waiting to dump water. It was a tough fire, with all the vehicles inside the building as well as diesel fuel and gas, and salt and stuff.”
Marketti believes the blaze to be one of the major fires in Grundy County history.
“It was a very difficult situation for firefighters to fight the fire when its so cold the water is freezing on the pavement and on themselves,” said Marketti.
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Post by gangsterade on Dec 6, 2007 19:06:26 GMT -5
NICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! we havent had a 5 banger up here since the court house a while back
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