Asphalt company employee injured in fire

By TOM MUSICK, NORTHWEST HERALD, Thursday, November 16, 2006 5:25 AM CST

HUNTLEY – An asphalt-company employee was taken by ambulance to Provena St. Joseph Hospital in Elgin after a fire Wednesday afternoon.

The fire started about 2:30 p.m. near a conveyor belt outside Allied Asphalt Paving Co., 11900 Raymond Court, which is about a half-mile east of Route 47 and Kreutzer Road.

Firefighters quickly extinguished the fire, said Chief Jim Saletta of the Huntley Fire Department.

Saletta said a male employee had minor injuries and was taken to the hospital as a precaution.

When firefighters arrived, Saletta said, liquid asphalt was burning near large silos behind the building and sending flames and thick smoke into the air.

“It was a lot of black smoke,” Saletta said. “It was looking pretty dramatic there.”

Some witnesses reported hearing an explosion, Saletta said. Fire officials were investigating that and other possible causes Wednesday afternoon.

Firefighters from the Algonquin-Lake in the Hills, Woodstock and Rutland-Dundee fire departments also responded to the scene. Huntley police helped with traffic control.

Fire at asphalt plant

Special to the Northwest Herald / Ernie Hagenow

A fire burns Wednesday afternoon near a conveyor belt outside Allied Asphalt Paving Co., 11900 Raymond Court. Huntley firefighters were able to extinguish the fire quickly, but one plant employee was injured.

A touch of winter in October

By NORTHWEST HERALD, Thursday, October 12, 2006 7:27 PM CDT

Winter touched down early this morning in McHenry County, as swirling snow and wintry skies gave residents their first taste of the cold months to come.

O’Hare International Airport measured 0.3 inches of snow, breaking a record from 1989 for earliest measurable snowfall.
Nathan Marsili, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service, said the area may see more snow flurries this afternoon and temperatures in the 40s and 50s through Saturday. By Sunday, temperatures should reach the upper 50s, he said.

A touch of winter in October

Peggy DelFiacco puts the finishing touches on a
snowman Thursday morning after a brief
snowshower covered the region with its first snow of
the season.
(Photo by Ernie Hagenow)