rockton il

A company hired to help extinguish a fire that gutted a northern Illinois chemical plant this week used foam containing toxic compounds that have tainted surface waters and groundwater across the U.S., officials said Thursday.

In a sign of good news for Rockton, Illinois, the town’s Old Settlers Days festival kicked off as planned, even as the chemical plant fire at the site of Chemtool continued to smolder. NBC 5’s Chris Coffey reports.

An evacuation order related to the massive fire at a chemical plant in Rockton, Illinois, remains in effect for a third day on Wednesday.

Authorities coordinating the response to the chemical plant fire in Rockton, Illinois, are scheduled to give an update on the situation Wednesday morning.

Firefighters in Rockton have made significant progress in battling a blaze at a chemical plant that began to burn on Monday, but the fallout from the fire is just beginning. NBC 5’s Alex Maragos has the story.

Health officials in Winnebago County say that an evacuation order will remain in place for at least one more night due to an ongoing fire at a Rockton chemical plant. NBC 5’s Charlie Wojciechowski reports.

The massive fire at the Chemtool plant in Rockton, Illinois, continued to burn for a second day on Tuesday, as authorities laid out a plan to suppress the blaze that is consuming half a million gallons of oil and has required the involvement of more than 80 different fire departments as well as a specialized industrial firefighting crew from Louisiana.

Rockton officials created a hotline for residents to ask urgent questions about the chemical plant fire, which continues to burn over the area as of Tuesday morning.

Bill Snyder, vice president of operations for Lubrizol Additives, the parent company of Chemtool, sent a message to the Rockton community after this week’s massive chemical fire.

Nearly 90 fire departments were in Rockton, Illinois, on Tuesday to help contain and battle a massive chemical plant fire at Chemtool while keeping the nearby Rock River free from pollution.

People forced from their homes by a chemical plant explosion and fire in Rockton on Monday still cannot return Tuesday as the blaze continues to burn. NBC 5’s Lisa Chavarria reports.

People forced from their homes by a chemical plant explosion and fire in Rockton on Monday still cannot return Tuesday as the blaze continues to burn.

The massive fire that engulfed the Chemtool plant in Rockton, Illinois, on Monday could continue to burn in a “several-day event,” the village’s fire chief says, revealing that crews have stopped using water to battle the blaze in order to let the chemical product burn off.

The massive fire that engulfed the Chemtool plant in Rockton, Illinois, on Monday could continue to burn in a “several-day event,” the village’s fire chief says, revealing that crews have stopped using water to battle the blaze in order to let the chemical product burn off.

The massive blaze sending up thick, black smoke from Chemtool in Rockton could burn for several days, according to the town’s fire chief.

A massive fire at the Chemtool plant in Rockton, Illinois, forced a mandatory evacuation of the area Monday morning.

A massive fire at the Chemtool plant in Rockton, Illinois, prompted a mandatory evacuation of the area Monday morning, authorities said.