Hundreds Of Crushed Cars Caught Fire At Joliet Auto Salvage Yard

JOLIET, IL — City of Joliet firefighters battled a large blaze Tuesday evening at Speedway Auto Parts in the 1300 block of Herkimer Street near the Old Joliet Prison. The fire engulfed at least half of the 400 crushed cars that were being scrapped for parts.

Joliet Fire Chief Greg Blaskey told Patch authorities believe the fire started in several junked cars on the property, and that firefighters were using front loaders to separate the cars and extinguish the fire. The fire started at 6:55 p.m.

"There is no life safety issues or exposure concerns," Blaskey told Joliet Patch. "The cars are being pulled apart with heavy machinery by the site owner to allow crews to access the seat of the fire. Due to poor water supply in the area, we have tankers from surrounding agencies assisting."

The property contains an auto body shop and a salvage yard with several hundred vehicles on the grounds. There were no tires involved in Tuesday night's fire, the business owner told Joliet Patch.

A huge cloud of smoke could be seen hovering over the prison as East Joliet firefighters assisted by bringing in a water tanker truck.

Joliet resident Bob Hernandez got to the scene around 7:30 p.m. and produced one of his Facebook Live videos for his followers.