Morris industrial fire: Crews use dry cement on lithium battery fire
MORRIS, Ill. - Residents are still not allowed to go home after a warehouse that housed lithium batteries caught fire in Morris this week.
Three-thousand people have been evacuated in a 10 mile radius that includes nearly 1,000 homes.
On Tuesday, a large billowing black plume of smoke filled the air, but it has since almost disappeared.
MORE: Industrial fire involving lithium batteries forces evacuations in Morris
Officials are working on putting the remainder of the fire out, and evacuations in the area will remain in place, officials said.
Inside the burning building is 80 to100 tons of lithium batteries, which has been quite the head scratcher, because officials are unable to fight a lithium battery fire with water or foam.
The only way to put this fire out is most likely with a dry substance, like road salt.
The Morris police chief says there have been some big developments in fighting this fire.
"There are significant decisions going on right now that he needed to be at. We expect progress coming up here soon, movement and more apparatus and people to the scene. So things are starting to happen," said Morris Police Chief Alicia Steffes.
At a 6 p.m. press conference on Wednesday, Chief Steffes said the evacuation order has been extended until 9 p.m. Thursday.