Molten material spills at Gurnee plant

A large spill of molten material in a Gurnee manufacturing building Thursday afternoon brought 13 different fire departments to help stop the flow and prevent a fire, Gurnee fire officials said.

Gurnee firefighters responded just after noon to PQ Corp., 1945 N. Delany Road, where workers attempting to empty a multiple-story furnace lost control of the flow of the 2,300-degree liquid substance, Gurnee Batallion Chief Jim Pellitteri said.

“It was like lava. You could see the material had an orange glow. It was liquid and thick,” Pellitteri said. “We applied water to the product. It crystallized it and hardened it.”

Workers were using a conveyor belt to empty the furnace.

Firefighters used seven different lines and sprayed between 50,000 and 70,000 gallons of water on the material, hardening it and creating a dam to stop the leak, Pellitteri said.

“All that lava stuff turned into a hard, crystal glass,” he said.

PQ Corp. is a worldwide producer of specialty inorganic performance chemicals and catalysts.

Firefighters spent four hours at the scene. Responding departments were Newport, Grayslake, Great Lakes, Waukegan, Libertyville, Fox Lake, Round Lake, Long Grove, Lake Villa, Winthrop Harbor, Mundelein, Zion, and Lincolnshire.