Chlorine leak causes evacuation of homes around Island Lake well house

Several homes were evacuated after a chlorine leak was discovered at a northwest suburban water facility Thursday morning.

Wauconda firefighters responded just after 10:30 a.m. to a call of a strange odor at a building at 3299 Waterford Way in Island Lake, according to the Wauconda Fire District. That address is a well house for the Village of Island Lake Public Works department.

The ILPW said an alarm had gone off at the facility, and when workers went to check, they found a strong chlorine odor and an audible alarm indicating a reading of 13 parts per million in the room. Normal is 0 ppm.

The ILPW crew immediately left the building and secured the door of the 75-by-25-foot structure.

Workers told responding firefighers the building contained nine 150-pound tanks of chlorine that were full, and two more that were hooked up.

Firefighters then initiated a HazMat response, bringing additional resources and technicians.

While the district said no one was in any immediate danger, they set up a 200-foot evacuation area, which affected 16 houses, though only one person was home at the time, the district said.

The Lake and McHenry county HazMat teams responded, along with firefighters from 21 departments. Firefighters determined the leak was confined to one tank, and it was quickly secured, the district said.

Personnel then ventilated the building and went back in to verify the leak had stopped. The evacuation was ended about 1 p.m, and the building turned back over to ILPW at 2:20 p.m.

No injuries were reported.