STERLING, Illinois — Sterling and Rock Falls Fire Departments were called back Wednesday morning to the scene of a large fire at Cimco Recycling in rural Sterling after battling flames late into the night Tuesday.
"We thought we had a pretty good handle on it and then we got called back at about 6:00 this morning," said Sterling Fire Department Deputy Chief Michael Dettman. He said high winds in the area caused the fire to reignite.
The original fire started at around 10:00 a.m. Tuesday. Black smoke could be seen for miles rising above the recycling facility. While the cause of that fire remains under investigation, large piles of materials containing combustible metal took several local fire departments hours to extinguish.
The Mutual Aid Box Alarm System on Tuesday called in more than a dozen fire departments from Whiteside and surrounding counties.
"The water supply in both Sterling and Rock Falls were taxed heavily and we were having a hard time keeping up," Dettman said.
Cimco staff worked with Sterling and Rock Falls Fired Departments Wednesday morning to spread out the smoldering piles of materials.
"When you've got a large pile ten feet high, forty feet in diameter, the inside of it is going to continue burning so we had to work with onsite staff to spread out the piles and get everything put out," Dettman said.
Meanwhile, long lines of trucks could be seen hauling materials into the plant even as firefighters continued to douse the smoldering metal. Operations were shut down for safety on Tuesday, but resumed Wednesday morning.
Dettman said there were no injuries to staff or firefighters, and no damage was reported to Cimco buildings or equipment. The fire department has been in contact with the Illinois EPA, but Dettman said the facilities filtration system and retention pond should be able to contain the tens of thousands of gallons of contaminated water.