Many of the area’s fire departments were paged out yesterday afternoon for a large scale mutual aid operation for a fire in the Metro East.
Flames were viewed for miles well into the night on Sunday and on into Monday in a fire that erupted for unknown reasons at 111 Salvage on Illinois Route 111 near Granite City.
Missouri Highway Patrol shut down the ramp from Interstate 55 to Illinois Route 111 as thick black smoke rolled up into the sky near the interchange on Sunday. The Alton Telegraph reports that more than 20 area fire departments responded to the initial call at around 6PM Sunday.
With the salvage yard being in a remote location, water was being trucked in by tankers to contain the blaze. The 10-acre facility, mostly filled with junk cars, could be seen exploding as they caught fire over the last two days. Local and state police had set up a perimeter to prevent onlookers from parking along the roadways surrounding the facility.
An Illinois Mutual Aid Box Alarm System (MABUS) alert was paged out to all Morgan and Scott fire departments at 1:30 yesterday afternoon.
Jacksonville Fire Chief Doug Sills told the Alton Telegraph that a task force consisting of three tankers, two engines, and two chief officers were set to depart from Jacksonville around 6:30 last night to assist on a shift beginning at 8 p.m. that continued into 4 a.m this morning.
The local MABAS division includes departments from Jacksonville, South Jacksonville, Woodson-Murrayville, Franklin, Waverly, Chapin, and Winchester. Sills said five other divisions from across western and southern Illinois are being called in for response. He said he doesn’t anticipate the local division will be recalled for another shift, but believed it is a possibility that it could happen due to the size of the event.
So far, no injuries have been reported and no evacuations have been needed due to the salvage yard’s remote location.