What caused 4-alarm fire at Rockton Chemtool? One-mile area under mandatory evacuation
ROCKTON, ILLINOIS: A deadly 4-alarm fire broke out at the Rockton Chemical plant on the morning of June 14. Several fire fighting crews are making every effort to extinguish the explosive fire at the Chemtool on Prairie Hill Road at the moment. According to available information, the fire broke out at around 7 AM in morning.
Multiple area fire departments were called to 1165 Prairie Hill Road in Rockton after reports of heavy smoke showing at Chemtool Incorporated. In a similar incident recently, the Monacillo power plant explosion on June 10 resulted in over 1 million customers being affected by outages. In February 2021, the Santa Clarita wildfire, which was reportedly caused by a movie set explosion left 3 people 'critically injured'. Back in March 2020, a huge fire broke out at the Coachella music festival in California. In August 2020, an extremely powerful explosion at a warehouse in the Port of Beirut levelled almost half the city in Beirut.
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What happened at Rockton Chemtool?
Neighbours reported hearing small explosions along with the fire burns and thick, black smoke, which could be seen from miles, in the morning of June 14. According to the Rockton Fire Chief, a one-mile radius area of the Chemtool plant in Rockton is under a mandatory, full-scale evacuation at the moment. Roscoe Middle School has been designated as a temporary refuge area for those evacuated. The cause of the fire and the number of casualties (if any) is unclear at the moment.
Rockton Chemtool manufactures fluids, lubricants and grease products which are distributed worldwide. According to the statement released by Chemtool, "We have confirmed all on site are safe and accounted for. Our concern right now is for the safety of all our employees and the surrounding community. As a precaution, authorities have evacuated residents in a one-mile radius of the site." The statement further said, "We do not yet know what caused this incident, but we will be working with local authorities and with our own risk management team to determine what happened and identify any corrective actions. We will share more details as they are known."