[Velveeta]

CLTV again reporting the woman who was on the ground right when it happened said there was a 'massive explosion' with a 'huge fireball'.

[HiTech RedNeck]

If that means when the fire just began, this ain't good news. What would happen if a gas line was breached? Wouldn't it just keep feeding the fire?

[prairiebreeze]

Chicago FD has requested the Suburban Mutual Aid System. Suburban relief for main Chicago fire dept's to continue to protect their regular communities.

10 other 'burbs in addition to Round Lake are responding.

Wow. And at least 10 firefighters have been upgraded to fair condition from serious, Praise be to God!

[budman_2001]

Had to step away, and just caught back up. Looks like the sit-rep is improving for the minute.

[Velveeta]

CLTV reporting that 10 more engines may be called up from the suburbs.

[AnAmericanMother]

Question is whether the explosion and fireball were primary or secondary. You can have gases build up in an enclosed area for some time, then when oxygen gets to the gases (due to a window breaking or wall breach) it "goes up" suddenly. We saw a couple of episodes of flashing through on the video as the fire reached the 30th floor.

In any event, once the fire is out, it will be relatively easy to determine the point of origin as well as the cause. Even in a very hot fire, the evidence of origin doesn't "burn up". We've even determined point of origin in residential structures that had nothing left but the concrete foundation and a few charred timbers.