Firefighters are battling a massive fire that started Thursday night destroying a storage facility.
The massive fire that destroyed the Access warehouse located at Brewster Creek Business Park in west suburban Bartlett has broken out just hours after firefighters thought they had tackled the blaze.
Firefighters continued to battle an inferno at a document storage facility that started late Thursday hours after flames first erupted. Sky 5 was over the scene as dozens of firefighters from suburban departments converged on the building and fought to control the flames.
Firefighters initially went inside, according to officials, but within 15 minutes, rack storage units started to collapse and knocked out the sprinkler system to the entire building.
Firefighters could be seen hosing water into the building from two scissor lift-like structures as furious flames rose up from inside the building. Multiple fire engines also surround the perimeter of the warehouse.
The Bartlett Fire Protection District was initially called to the scene at 9:48 am on Thursday and by 9 pm, it had been burning for more than 12 hours.
William Gabrenya, Bartlett Fire Chief, said: “As the crews responded and pulled up on the scene, they were met with employees running out of the building stating there were boxes inside the building that were on fire.”
Everyone inside the building made it out safely. During the two-alarm fire, crews from neighboring departments responded to assist.
Gabrenya said the building’s sprinkler system was keeping the fire in check, but when those 40-foot, floor-to-ceiling racks collapsed, he said that the sprinkler system was taken out.
Not only were crews facing challenges caused by the cold weather, but they were also forced to stay further back than usual because the remaining walls of the building were unstable.
Chief Gabrenya said: “These walls are collapsing on us. We don’t want to get any of the firefighters within that collapse zone, so at this point, we’re all aerials operations.”
The smoke from the fire was so intense the plume was visible on ABC7’s Live Doppler 7 Max weather radar. The National Weather Service in Chicago warned motorists that snow showers were being “enhanced” by drifting smoke from the blaze to create visibility issues in the west and southwest of the city.
Chief Gabrenya said: “Some of the challenges for us right now is the cold weather. We’re trying to keep the firefighters warm so we have the warming busses out here.”
In a statement, Access said all its employees evacuated the building and are safe. The company added that it is working with local authorities to determine the cause of the fire.
Access also said a recovery team is working onsite to “assess the situation, determine any impact, and take necessary actions.”