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Holiday Packages Destroyed In Illinois UPS Blaze

Trailers Go Up In Flames At Loading Docks

POSTED: 12:29 pm EST December 16, 2004   UPDATED: 2:57 pm EST December 16, 2004

HODGKINS, Ill. -- Fire investigators said it is still unclear what started a fire at a UPS shipping hub in Hodgkins, which damaged seven trailers early Thursday.

Although two of the seven trailers were empty, the other five contained about 2,000 packages, reported WMAQ-TV in Chicago.

 

"A box came down the ramp into the truck on fire," said UPS worker Calvin Kershaw. "One thing led to another, and the next thing you know, there was a mass exodus."

Wright said some of the packages in those trailers were scorched, some were damaged, and some were unaffected.

More than 15 fire departments arrived at the scene to billowing smoke and flames, the television station reported.

 

"There was so much smoke, you could barely tell what was going on," said Mike Kleinhaus, an area resident. "You could hear people screaming and yelling."

The fire was reported shortly after midnight at the UPS Chicago Area Consolidation Hub, and was struck out around 1:45 a.m, according to a UPS spokesman. No workers were injured in the fire, said UPS spokesman Mike Johl.

"We evacuated over 1,000 employees, and no one was hurt, and that includes the unsung heroes here, the firefighters," he said.

 

The plant, a consolidation hub site, is where the shipping company sorts mail and packages in preparation for shipment. A security guard at the plant said these are the busiest days of the year, as consumers want to meet the deadline for packages to arrive in time for Christmas.

 

A Hodgkins police dispatcher said the fire started in a trailer. Firefighters from surrounding suburbs responded, in part, to stop the fire from spreading to the plant, where holiday mail and packages are stored and processed during the holiday season.

 

But the fire did spread beyond the original trailer, engulfing other trailers on the plant's outgoing loading dock and then moving through the dock and into the main building. The UPS spokesman said workers were transferring packages from a conveyor belt into three or four shipping trailers docked on the east side of the building when the fire started. None of the packages involved in the fire contained hazardous material, the spokesman said.