Li-ion battery warehouse fire extinguished with Portland cement (2021)

MORRIS, Ill. (WLS) - Morris officials said the evacuation order for the massive industrial fire will remain in place indefinitely, although they continue to make progress in his struggle.

An official said Thursday morning that they "have made a lot of progress" using the Portland cement mix to fight a massive industrial fire at an abandoned paper mill on Thursday and that he was now "under control".< /p>

Morris Fire Chief Tracey Steffes said they used 28 tons of Portland cement to smother burning lithium batteries and there was no longer active combustion on the site. He said Wednesday evening there were no more flames or smoke from the batteries.

Chief Steffes said the unconventional method appears to be working, but warned the batteries may continue to burn because they don't need oxygen to burn .

"When we smothered it with concrete, we're not 100% sure that this thermal runaway won't continue," Chief Steffes said. "It's probably going on and hopefully it's going to consume what's left of the piles below and then it's over. But it's possible that as it goes on it's going to break through that Portland cement."

He said firefighters were digging a trench in the lowest corner of the building in case the fire spread through the cement and water was needed

The evacuation order is in place due to toxic fumes and smoke emanating from the building, resulting from the explosion of as many as 200,000 lithium batteries. WATCH: Latest update from Morris officials

Firefighters believed thousands of pounds of lithium had burned away, allowing heavy machinery to rip out parts of the building still on fire.

"They took this machine and stripped the front of this building 150 feet of sheathing which gave us our first look inside the building and what we had business," Steffes said.< /p>

Before using cement, firefighters tried to use dry chemical to extinguish the fire.

"We brought over 1,000 pounds of Purple-K and we put it in the fire hoping we could kill it and smother it," Steffes said. "The lithium fire mocked the Purple-K. It didn't harm it."

READ MORE: Morris Fire: Industrial fire causes evacuation of 1,000 nearby homes

Steffes said he consulted with experts throughout the day on how to fight the fire without making it a bigger environmental issue than it already is.< /p>

The fire started just before 11:45 a.m. Tuesday at the former Federal Paper Board mill in the 900 block of East Benton Street.

"These batteries vary from the size of a cell phone to slightly larger than a car battery. When wet, they short circuit, ignite and explode. That's the problem we have," Steffes said. "The biggest danger we have is the smoke and fumes as well as the gas from the fire. Very poisonous and very deadly."

WATCH: Morris fire chief says crews are working to smother the blaze

Morris Mayor Chris Brown said the city was unaware of the batteries.

WATCH: Mayor of Morris says unaware city batteries are stored in now burning warehouse

"To our knowledge, we were unaware of the batteries in the warehouse and only discovered them when the firefighters started doing their job and pushing water on the fire; they've taken every precaution to make sure everything is safe and contained," he said.

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Building owner Jin Zheng said he was at the scene minutes after the fire started but was unable to enter on the inside. He said the thick black smoke coming from the building was fueled by explosions of thousands of lithium batteries he had inside.

Zheng said he was stocking supplies in the 70,000 square foot warehouse because he planned to open a solar energy business...