AURORA - Crews extinguished a warehouse fire that caused the evacuation of a building Monday.
The fire was at the Timminco Corporation warehouse at 3595 Moline in Aurora. Capt. Mike Ackman of the Aurora Fire Department said the fire started as a 1,000-pound slab containing magnesium was moving on a conveyer belt. The slab was being heated to make it easier to extract the magnesium.
There were no injuries reported in the fire.
Timminco, was evacuated and the air systems in buildings downwind were shut off so no fumes or smoke would get inside.
Ackman said the business owner told the fire department magnesium fumes aren't dangerous, but crews monitored the air for possible hazards to be sure. It was unclear what sparked the fire.
"If you're in the magnesium business, you will have fires at some point in time," said Timminco employee Tim Pretzer. "The key thing is to know how to deal with those fires, which we do, and to have a good relationship with the fire department, which we do and they've responded in a positive manner. So we've got it under control and we just have to wait for the smoke to clear so we can go in and find out what actually happened."
Firefighters had to use powder and grainy materials to smother the fire because water would only fuel the flames. It was unclear how many people work at the plant.