ROCKTON, Ill.—An explosion caused a large fire to break out early Jun 14 at a Chemtool Inc. lubricant manufacturing plant in northern Illinois, prompting evacuations and leaving the future of the facility in question as the fire continued to burn as of the morning of June 15, according to local reports.
All 70 employees on-site at the Rockton plant evacuated without injuries, fire officials and Chemtool confirmed.
The cause of the explosion and fire was under investigation and still undetermined as of Tuesday morning. Chemtool is a manufacturer and supplier of industrial rust prevention and grease products to a variety of industries, including automotive.
A spokesman for Lubrizol Corp., Chemtool's parent company, said the situation at the plant was evolving.
"As with any large-scale event like this one, we are in communication with our customers and are sharing updates as they become available," spokesman Cody Adams said in an email to Automotive News.
Lubrizol did not clarify which automotive clients are supplied by the Chemtool plant.
"Additional specialized emergency response resources have arrived at our Chemtool site in Rockton, Illinois," Lubrizol said in a statement issued June 14. "They will be diligently working alongside local emergency response to extinguish the fire and limit the impact on the community. We will provide an update as soon as the fire has been extinguished. We do not have an estimate on timing at this juncture."
Lubrizol said its health and safety experts were analyzing what materials were burned.