No Injuries After Debris Sparks Fire in Steel Processing Building

No one was injured after debris sparked a fire inside of a steel processing building in the 900 block of Frontenac Road in northwest Naperville Wednesday afternoon. 

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arrived to , 951 Frontenac Rd., around 3 p.m. Wednesday after receiving a call regarding a debris pit catching fire, said Naperville Fire Division Chief Mark Ziemnik.

“When our units first got here they were told that aluminum had caught on fire in a pit (measuring) about 5-by-8 by about 25-to-30 feet deep,” Ziemnik said.

A total of 25 fire personnel were on the scene, including two trucks, two ambulances, three engines, one police squad company and three command vehicles.

Employees were able to extinguish the fire prior to the fire department’s arrival, he said.

“We had gone upstairs to have a meeting and when we were up there a spark landed on some debris,” said Promet Processing Corporation general manager Matt Steagall. “And next thing you know, it was time to roast marshmallows.”

Due to the building's height and size, an air-boat was hauled in from the nearby Aurora Fire Department in order to blow some of the lingering smoke out of the building. It’s a technique that hasn’t been used in a “long time” in Naperville, but it speeds up the ventilation process, Zimnek said.

“It’s a very large industrial building so this works very well to get all of the smoke out of there,” he said.

Steagall said that given the nature of the company’s work, which includes steel stamping and metalworking, employees are trained in fire prevention and safety.

“We try to be very safe in our company with fire prevention trainings and (they) paid off today,” Steagall said. 

The estimated damage to the building is $25,000.