CTA station remains closed after nearby blaze
By Emma Graves Fitzsimmons
Tribune staff reporter
October 23 2006, 7:40 PM CDT
A fire that destroyed a metal-plating warehouse early Monday will disrupt
traffic for another day on the Near West Side with street closures and train
rerouting.
The roof of Reliable Plating Corp.'s production facility, 1538 W. Lake St.,
collapsed in flames that came as close as 15 feet to Green Line tracks.
Chicago fire officials said they are still investigating the cause of the fire,
which did not spread to other buildings. There were no injuries.
Green and Pink Line trains will not be stopping at the Ashland station through
Tuesday's morning rush hour while crew clear the charred mess, a CTA spokeswoman
said. The lines are otherwise running normally.
The fire snarled traffic Monday with several street closures, and fire officials
expected Lake Street between Ashland and Ogden Avenues to remain closed Tuesday
morning.
The Chicago Fire Department advised that the closures remain in place while
workers pump out irritating chemicals from the burned-out building, department
spokesman Larry Langford said. The department did not want commuters affected by
a possible chemical leak during the cleanup, he said.
The Fire Department was alerted by an automatic alarm at 3:45 a.m. and brought
the flames under control by 5:10 a.m.
James Greenwell, the owner of Reliable Plating Corp., said he was just glad the
building was empty when the fire erupted.
"If something like this is going to happen, it would just as soon happen in the
middle of the night when nobody was there," said Greenwell, 63.
Greenwell plans to rebuild the warehouse, which represents half of the company's
production area. The business, which owns another warehouse and an office on
Lake Street, has been family-owned for three generations and has 80 employees,
he said.
"It's a big challenge for us, but family pulls together," he said.
On Monday afternoon, fire officials monitored the cleanup. Tests for
contamination of air quality and water runoff came back negative, officials
said.
"All our meters have said that it is safe to go back," Rosado said.
Tribune staff reporter Jeremy Gorner contributed to this report.
efitzsimmons@tribune.com
