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Fire officials said that 180,000 to 200,000 lbs. of lithium batteries are burning, and due to the nature of the fire they are going to have to let it burn out on its own, a process expected to take until at least Wednesday. The batteries involved in the fire range from cell phone batteries to commercial batteries the size of a car.

Still, fire officials said, comparing this fire to the Rockton Chemtool fire is like "comparing a mouse to an elephant." Fire officials said because of the Rockton fire, there are additional resources to help combat this kind of fire that would not have been immediately available otherwise.

Governor JB Pritzker said he is sending Illinois National Guard troops to help at the scene.

So far, no injuries have been reported.

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fire officials said, comparing this fire to the Rockton Chemtool fire is like "comparing a mouse to an elephant."

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Originally posted by wtg:
If they have a warehouse full of stuff (like lithium batteries) that gets really "interesting" when it catches on fire, I would have hoped that they knew what to do *before* a fire occurred....