Fire Causes Smoke Damage At Lockport Manufacturing Facility

LOCKPORT, IL — A fire at a Lockport manufacturing facility caused smoke damage in the building on Tuesday morning, the Lockport Township Fire Protection District said. Firefighters were dispatched to an automatic fire alarm at Chemtech Services, Inc., 20648 Gaskin Drive, at 5:29 a.m. Tuesday.

Workers at the facility reported a fire in the building, and firefighters arrived to find the manufacturing facility with smoke showing, the department said. The fire had started in a processing area in the warehouse that generated heavy, black smoke throughout the building.

The department said the fire was contained in the warehouse area, but caused smoke damage throughout the entire building. The fire was upgraded to a full still alarm, which brought in additional mutual aid companies. Since there are also processing chemicals in the facility, Lockport Hazmat Team members and advisors from the Southwest Hazardous Materials Team were also called in to help identify any further potential hazards and assist with precautionary decontamination of personnel who entered the building.

The department said companies stayed on scene for about three hours to monitor the situation. Hazmat and Will County EMA also notified the Environmental Protection Agency to ensure proper clean-up of the facility.

There were no injuries reported, and no immediate hazards were detected beyond the building.