April 22--Firefighters on Friday morning were still at the scene of an extra-alarm fire that destroyed a furniture warehouse in Woodridge on Thursday night.
Crews were at the RoomPlace warehouse to secure the site and make sure there were no hot spots remaining from the four-alarm blaze, according to the Lemont Fire Protection District.
According to a news release from the district, officials from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were scheduled to conduct an investigation of the fire, which could be seen for miles. Personnel from the Illinois state fire marshal's office were also at the scene.
Fifty employees in the warehouse were able to escape without injury, officials said. No firefighters were injured.
Crews responded to an automatic fire alarm at the warehouse in the 2500 block of International Drive about 5 p.m., said Lemont Fire Protection District Chief George Rimbo.
"We were en route when we (started receiving) 911 calls from people who were inside the building telling us there was smoke in the building," Rimbo said Thursday night.
Rimbo said all employees had been evacuated by the time responders arrived.
Possibly as many as 115 firefighters from 35 departments fought the blaze at the 700,000-square-foot building, authorities said. Rimbo said that, at one point, five streams of water from aerial devices were used to keep the fire from spreading to other buildings in the industrial area, southwest of where Interstates 55 and 355 intersect.
No cause or source for the fire had been determined as of Thursday night, Rimbo said.
The RoomPlace posted the following message on its website: "Due to a recent issue at our main Distribution Center, we are unable to take incoming calls at this time. We'll be contacting our customers in the coming days with more information. We apologize for the inconvenience."
According to a news release from the village of Woodridge, customers of Illinois American Water Co. were being told to boil their water. The boil order affects the portion of Woodridge south of I-55. It does not affect the Woodridge Water System and its customers north of I-55.
Peter Nickeas is a Chicago Tribune reporter. Bill Bird is a Naperville Sun reporter.
