Fire At Mental Health Center Site Would Be Treated As Hazmat Call

TINLEY PARK, IL — There hasn't been a fire call at the former Tinley Park Mental Health Center property since before the last building there closed in 2012, but fire officials in the village said they are aware of the dangers that could come from if one does occur somewhere on the vacant and abandoned 280-acre site to the northwest of 183rd and Harlem.

To some extent.

"We would treat it like any other hazardous material incident," Tinley Park Fire Chief Forest Reeder said. "It would be a multi-agency response similar to any other in which there's potential for unknown chemicals to be involved."

An Illinois Environmental Protection Agency inspection last December found not only friable asbestos and black mold in all buildings on the site but also several barrels of chemicals, some labeled and others unlabeled.

Reeder said the Tinley Park Fire Department is able to handle hazardous material situations as both parts of Interstate 80 and Interstate 57 are within their response area.

"We could have a trailer going down I-80, and if the driver can't let us know exactly what's in there we would be dealing with the same thing," the chief said.

Hazardous material incidents along the railroad tracks in town, or on busy thoroughfares like Harlem Avenue and La Grange Road would "equally concern us," he said.

But a fire at the Mental Health Center property would create a different type of circumstance. For one, Reeder said, the size of the area would allow firefighters to "isolate the property completely."

The barrels of unlabeled chemicals also pose a danger that's unknown.

"We are aware (of the inspection), and have access to that information," Reeder said, but noted that since it is not known what's in many of the barrels the situation is "a giant it depends."

"There's nothing quantifiable on what's there and on what level," he said. "There's a difference if it would be just one barrel (that's on fire), or if it is leaking."