Huge fire destroys south suburban magnesium facility on Seeley Avenue

DIXMOOR, ill. (WLS) -- Fire crews and hazmat are trying to figure out what caused a fire at a magnesium facility in the south suburbs Wednesday night.

Crews from 15 different fire departments , totaling around 75 firefighters spent several hours overnight and into the early morning battling the strong flames."

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The roof of the Chicago Magnesium Castings plant quickly collapsed and one of the three buildings-is a total loss.

"Companies went right to work to save a building to the north and to the south, which we did," Posen Fire Chief Jeff Cook said.

Chief Cook said the fire broke out at around 11:30 p.m. on Seeley just south of 139th Street near the Calumet Woods Forest Preserve.

He said the building was empty when the fire started and believes no one was hurt.

"The wind was in our favor last night. It wasn't going toward the trailer park here because we have 100 trailers here," Chief Cook said. "It was going in the opposite direction so it saved us from having to evacuate the trailer park."

Chicago Magnesium produces castings for helicopters, jet fighters, jumbo transports and regional jets for both commercial and military.

The chief said 55 gallon drums of chemicals were inside the building. There were several small explosions over the course of the morning.

The EPA set up monitors to test the air quality for elevated magnesium levels. The chemicals, crews say, made the fire difficult to tackle.

"Magnesium reacts with water, so it makes it a challenge," Chief Cook said. "We had quite a few different explosions that were happening from the building from that chemical reaction, like I said, we were able to contain it. But that was one of the big issues."

The ATF and State Fire Marshall also here on scene assisting with the investigation.