The warehouse belonged to Morgan Li, a company that creates custom furniture
A massive fire broke out at the Morgan Li manufacturing facility in Chicago Heights on Monday morning, completely engulfing the 500,000-square-foot building. According to NBC Chicago, the fire broke out at Morgan Li around 6 am in the 1100 block of Washington Avenue.
Several aerial clips of the incident which have gone viral on social media show the fire fully engulfing the warehouse. The fire sent big plumes of heavy, black smoke billowing into the air. Reports say the thick smoke was visible for miles.
Watch the video here:
A witness told ABC Chicago that he had never seen such a thing in his life. "I just saw a lot of smoke in the clouds. It was black. I've never seen that before a day in my life. I only saw that in movies," he said.
Meanwhile, multiple fire departments responded to the alarm fire, and crews remained on the scene all day to monitor any hot spots. No one was inside the plant at the time, and no injuries have been reported. The cause of the fire wasn't immediately known.
The warehouse belonged to Morgan Li, a company that creates custom furniture for businesses across the country and around the world. They had acquired the Chicago Heights property a year ago.
In a statement on Facebook, a spokesperson for Morgan Li said: "A fire broke out on Monday morning, February 6, 2023, at our factory at 1001 Washington Street, Chicago Heights. While the damage of the fire is massive, the most important thing is that all our people are safe and accounted for."
"Morgan Li is a family-owned and run business and we consider all our employees an extension of our family; we will do everything we can to rebuild what was lost and continue to support our people and the entire Chicago Heights community. The location of the fire is one of our five manufacturing facilities and we will continue to support our customers throughout the other operational locations," the statement said.
The company added that it is working with authorities and cooperating fully with their investigation into the cause of the fire. Despite the setback, the spokesperson said Morgan Li would do everything possible to rebuild and continue to support its employees and the Chicago Heights community.