15 fire departments, 2M gallons of water battle Cimco fire near Sterling

Nov. 12—STERLING — Firefighters from more than a dozen departments fought a large fire that broke out Monday morning outside Cimco Recycling's Galt Road location.

The Sterling Fire Department, Rock Falls Fire Department and CGH EMS were called at 7:46 a.m. to Cimco, where they found two scrap piles burning, according to a news release issued by the city of Sterling. In total, 15 different departments were on scene until just before 5 p.m., when the fire was extinguished.

Due to the holiday weekend, several mutual-aid departments passed on the three Mutual Aid Box Alarm System requests, which brought departments from as far as Clinton, Iowa, and Manlius. Those two departments handled other calls in the Sterling and Rock Falls areas while the Cimco fire was being battled by other departments.

Both aerials from Sterling and Rock Falls were set up for aerial operations and an estimated 2 million gallons of water were used to extinguish the material. There were no injuries to any employees or responders.

Due to the smoke plume, the Illinois Emergency Management Agency will be monitoring air quality and will follow up with a report through the EPA, according to the release.