Fire sweeps SW Illinois recycling center, forces evacuations

MADISON, Ill. (AP) - A fire swept through a recycling center and two adjacent businesses in southwestern Illinois early Wednesday, forcing the evacuation of homes in a three-block area, officials said.

The fire began about 2 a.m. Wednesday at an industrial park in Madison, Illinois, near St. Louis. Television footage showed flames leaping from buildings at Interco, a recycling company that recycles metals, computers and electronics.

Firefighters from nine departments, including the city of St. Louis, battled the fire. Madison Mayor John Hamm said late Wednesday morning that the blaze was under control, even as crews continued to douse flames in buildings at the recycling company and two adjacent businesses.

'Å“They're still working to put it out. It's a work in progress," he told The Associated Press.

Hamm told KMOV-TV that four separate buildings had collapsed during the fire in the city of about 4,000 residents just east of downtown St. Louis, along the Mississippi River.

He said residents who had been evacuated in a three-block area adjacent to the west of the fire were allowed to return home starting just before 10 a.m. Hamm said he wasn't sure how many people had been evacuated.

Anthony Newson, who lives across from the recycling center, said he was awakened by two loud booms and then saw the flames.

"I look out my door and it was like an inferno. I mean, fire everywhere," he told KSDK-TV.

Newson said he was gathering up his belongings and getting ready to leave when first responders came to his door and told him he needed to evacuate.