Jul. 20--The owner of a former gas station that caught fire in Park Ridge has been cited for failing to notify the fire department that a large amount of hazardous material was being stored on the site prior to the building erupting in flames, the city's fire chief said.
Park Ridge Fire Chief Jeff Sorensen said the city's fire marshal issued the citation on Thursday, a day after firefighters battled a large blaze that engulfed the former Harvey's Marathon gas station at Northwest Highway and Oakton Street.
Sorensen said the property owner failed to post signs on the property or let the fire department know that 45 tons of calcium peroxide was being stored in and next to the former gas station and service center building.
The citation comes with a $500 fine, Sorensen said. The Park Ridge Fire Department has identified the calcium peroxide as a hazardous material that caused the fire to build rapidly and injure two firefighters who reportedly sustained minor burns. "We didn't have any way of knowing what was in there," Sorensen said, explaining that it was a representative of the company that delivered the material the previous day who identified what was burning inside. "We're very fortunate that the reaction wasn't more explosive or pronounced." The cause of the fire has not been determined, Sorensen said.
The city of Park Ridge identified the property's owner as Raza Holdings LLC. Messages left with two individuals listed as managers of the LLC were not immediately returned Friday.
The fire was reported shortly after 5 p.m. on July 17 and crews continued to douse hot spots well into the night and early morning hours, Sorensen said.
Sorensen said the massive amount of calcium peroxide stored inside the building was going to be used to clean up soil contamination on the property, due to it having it operated as a gas station for a number of years.
The property has been vacant since around 2013, said Tim Schwarz, environmental health officer for the city of Park Ridge. There was no electric or natural gas service to the property when the fire occurred, Sorensen said.
The underground gasoline tanks had been removed last year, according to the city.
Sorensen said the Park Ridge Fire Department and other area departments that responded to fight the fire will likely seek reimbursement for damages to equipment and labor expenses.
Cleanup at the site continued Friday, with monitoring by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency and the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District, Sorensen said.
A plastic lined "sand berm" was installed on the property Thursday and cleanup was expected to continue through the weekend, said Kim Biggs, spokeswoman for the IEPA.
"Our emergency response office is heading up the investigation, determining what the extent of the contamination is, both on and off site," she said.
Additionally, the IEPA is working with the property owner and contractors to "ensure [the site] is remediated properly," Biggs said.
The IEPA does not regulate the storage of calcium peroxide, and any requirements would fall under the local municipality's laws, she added.
Any of the material that was not destroyed in the fire cannot be used on the property for the soil decontamination that had been planned, Biggs said.
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