A raging industrial fire at an old paper mill in Illinois has prompted at least 1,000 home evacuations as toxic fumes spew into the air.
For the second day, clouds of smoke filled the air in Morris as 180,000 to 200,000 pounds of lithium batteries continue to explode.
“The biggest hazard we have is the smoke and fumes as well as the gas from the fire. Highly poisonous and very deadly,” Chief Tracey Steffes, with the Morris Fire Protection & Ambulance District, told ABC 7 Chicago.
The fire started before 11:45 a.m. on Tuesday at the old Federal Paper Board building where batteries ranging in size from cell phones to bigger than car batteries were located.
“As they get wet, they short out and they ignite and explode. That is the problem we are having,” Steffes