The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms has assigned 25 agents to help investigate the fire that destroyed the S&G Packaging factory in Plainfield, a response it calls routine to such a large blaze.
ATF officials say there is no reason to suspect foul play in the Monday night fire. Plainfield’s Fire Department is mostly volunteer and was not equipped to handle such a large investigation without help.
“They requested our resources,” said Andy Anderson, special agent in charge of ATF’s Chicago office. “This is just a really large fire. That building was about 300,000 square feet.”
ATF brought in 10 Chicago agents and 15 members of its National Response Team, but none of the investigators had been able to enter the building, in the 2800 block of South U.S. Highway 30, by the end of the workday Wednesday, fire officials said.
“It’s still burning in there,” said Plainfield Deputy Chief Jim Pubentz. “It’s full of cardboard, bags for Burger King, cardboard dividers. It’s a lot of fire.”
ATF investigators hoped that by Thursday they could enter the building and begin a thorough search for clues as to the cause of the fire.
In addition to ATF and Plainfield’s one fire investigator, the State fire marshal and a Joliet K-9 unit are helping with the investigation, Anderson said.
The fire broke out shortly before 6 p.m. Monday, when about 70 people were working at the plant, which makes paper bags and containers, Pubentz said. The company employs about 225. Officials at Kentucky-based Duro-Bag, which owns the plant, did not return calls for comment Wednesday.
Plainfield Mayor Richard Rock said it was troubling “to have that many people out of work. So many of them are from the village. We’re going to help them in any way that we can.”
