On January 16th at 4:24 AM, the Rock Falls and Sterling Fire Departments, along with CGH EMS were dispatched for a structure fire in rural Rock Falls. The first arriving units encountered fire through the roof and heavy smoke in a large one-story commercial building. A MABAS Box alarm was called for and quickly escalated to a second alarm.
The fire progressed rapidly and spread throughout the entire building. Ladder and Tower Trucks, with elevated master streams, were set up to fight the fire and a water shuttle was set up to supply them with water. The extreme cold temperatures quickly became a problem with our water supply operations. As water tenders would dump their water and go to refill, their valves would freeze. This required sending them to several places to unfreeze, so they could be returned to the water shuttle operation.
Rock Falls Fire Department, Sterling Fire Department and Rock Falls Electric Department all had apparatus sent to them to for warming. This required extended requests for help. The situation escalated to the third alarm and made a special request for water tenders from Lee and Ogle Counties, to supplement what was already being utilized from mutual aid departments in Whiteside County. Bureau County Sheriff’s Department provided their Mobile Command Unit to house command operations.
Personnel had to be rotated to warming stations throughout the operation. Warming stations were provided by CGH EMS, the Salvation Army and nearby local businesses. Heavy equipment was brought in by local excavating contractors to remove collapse rubble, to allow water streams to reach hidden fire. Fire crews remained on scene until after 2:00 PM. There was mutual aid assistance from over 25 fire departments in 4 counties. The building and its contents were destroyed. There were no injuries.
The State Fire Marshall’s Office was called in to investigate the cause and origin of the fire, with assistance from the ATF. IEMA and IL EPA were called in to investigate possible hazardous water runoff. IL EPA’s initial investigation did not turn up any immediate concerns, but they will follow up with additional testing. The fire is still under investigation currently, but appears to be accidental in nature.
