Bolingbrook Student Surveys Rockton Chemical Plant Fire Damage

BOLINGBROOK, IL — After a chemical fire and explosion went off at a chemical plant in Rockton June 14, a student from Bolingbrook was among 12 engineering interns who stepped up to support the Illinois Emergency Management Agency.

The explosion that morning was large enough to see on the weather radar, officials had said, and residents and businesses within a two-mile radius of the plant, Chemtool Incorporated, were ordered to evacuate.

RELATED: Explosion At Rockton Chemical Plant: National Guard Deployed

Lily Dempsey, a Bolingbrook resident and student at Purdue University, is interning at Christopher B. Burke Engineering, Ltd., a Rosemont-based firm. She and 11 other interns spent three days in Rockton getting real-world experience in the aftermath of the fire.

After a day of training, the interns surveyed more than 1,100 residential and business properties to gauge potential impacts from the fire, according to a news release.

The engineering company's founder and CEO Christopher B. Burke said it's important to give their interns practical experience since they're the next generation of engineers.

"One of the core practices at CBBEL is being a citizen engineer — someone who looks beyond their desk to contribute to the world around them — and it’s something we work to instill in our interns as well as our full time employees," Burke said in a statement.

Alongside Dempsey were other college-aged interns from surrounding areas, including Northbrook, Lake Zurich, Gurnee and Des Plaines.