Update on Empress Casino fire in Joliet, Illinois. More raw video and links to news coverage.
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At about 36 seconds into the video above you will see a portion of the roof collapse.
Earlier coverage from STATter911.com
Excerpts from an article by Kim Smith from The Herald News of Joliet:
As a fire swept through the Empress Casino complex for nearly nine hours today, firefighters gave up trying to save the ballroom and the pavilion that housed the restaurants and gift shop.
Instead, they concentrated their all of their efforts on saving the casino and the two-story office complex in the rear of the building on Route 6.
Joliet fire Chief Joe Formhals said an endloader was brought to the scene this afternoon to sever the walls connecting the barge-style casino and office complex from the burning building. Firefighters had a hard time dousing the blaze due to extensive remodeling work that has taken place several times during the building’s 18-year history.
“We had to break through two or three ceilings,” Formhals said. “All of the add-ons and improvements caused a lot of void spaces. You could be inside the building and not see the fire overhead.”
Since firefighters could not hamper the blaze with the use of four ladder trucks spraying about 6,000 to 8,000 gallons of water from the roofs down into the building, the fire spread vertically from the ballroom east to the valet parking area.
Formhals said nearby hydrants couldn’t provide enough water to fight the large blaze. The department was helped by water trucks from departments, as far as Mazon, bringing in water and heading back out for more.
