MORRIS (WBBM NEWSRADIO) --Gov. JB Pritzker said the Illinois National Guard will be deployed to assist authorities fighting a fire at an industrial facility in southwest suburban Morris.
Crews have expanded evacuation orders near the fire scene, where which up to 100 tons of lithium batteries were stored.
A Morris Fire Department spokesperson tells WBBM Newsradio’s Rachel Pierson that firefighters are letting the fire burn because putting water on it could cause an explosion.
There were no reports of injuries, but about 1,000 homes were evacuated. The Red Cross was assisting in helping displaced residents.
The structural fire was reported just before noon Tuesday in the 900 block of East Benton Street, at an old paper mill building.
Initially, authorities evacuated East Street and the 900 blocks of Benton, Douglass and Armstrong streets, according to an alert from the Grundy County Emergency Management Agency.
Officials called it a "high hazard" situation.
Authorities said evacuated residents could shelter in the Grundy County administration building at 1320 Union St., according to the alert.
Morris sits along the Illinois River about 60 miles southwest of Chicago.
The fire comes less than a month after an industrial fire at the Chemtool grease plant in Rockton prompted officials to evacuate residents.
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(WBBM Newsradio and Sun-Times Media Wire contributed to this copy.)