I was out for a typical day of railfanning in Joliet, on March 20th, 2009. While driving to another location for railfanning, I noticed smoke looming in the air. Thinking it was just some controlled fire, I didn't think too much of it. A little later on, the smoke still loomed and I heard a lot of sirens from every direction. I began to get curious as the sirens continued. I went to get gas at a nearby gas station. I asked the cashier what was happening and she said, "The Empress is up in flames." Everyone at the gas station was talking about how bad it was. I took a drive down to the entrance of the Empress and there were a whole bunch of TV stations and emergency vehicles directing traffic. Traffic was terrible at the time. Knowing that there wasn't any chance of getting in the entrance to the Empress, I took a drive down to Splash Station (a couple blocks from the Empress), the local water park. I managed to find a place to park. I got my camcorder out and walked about seven blocks to the location you see here. I was surprised that there a whole lot of people here. Seeing this was quite a sad sight, as I've always been fond of the Empress. I've had many memories with it. Skip Griparis, a singer and actor, performed live at the Empress years back. I was present at the time and he was kind enough to give me his autograph during a break. I've watched trains from the back deck (which is now gone) for years. Many fire departments were on hand to try and control the major fire. Some fire departments that were there (that I can think of off the top of my head) were Joliet, Plainfield, Rockdale, Lockport, Shorewood, Coal City, Morris, Braceville, Minooka, Ottawa, Aurora and many more. They would run out of water quite a few times and they would have to refill at a nearby location. Word spread around about the fire and it was broadcasted on many different TV stations, live. The fire grew more intense by the minute and they began trying to shoot water at it from far distances (up to two miles away). I managed to get a lot of footage of this tragedy. After getting my footage, I headed home to watch the entire thing on TV. I returned later, after learning that the fire had grown worse. Empress Security got wise to the Splash Station entrance and closed it off. I was glad that I got the footage when I did. After listening to Empress Security and other citizens bicker about why the Splash Station entrance was closed, I headed home for good, to watch the fire on TV.
The fire was controlled after many hours of fighting. Fire trucks were still present the next morning. From that day on, Empress Security and Joliet Police guarded the entrance to the Empress 24-7. The Empress Casino (only the casino) re-opened on June 26th, 2009, much to the delight of many gamblers. I took a drive through the parking lot the other day and it looks nothing like its old self. Truly, a very sad tragedy. Hopefully, after everything is rebuilt, it will still resemble its old self.
More videos will follow. In some of the videos, you'll see a train or two. The BNSF Chillicothe Subdivision is visible from the casino. This location is a couple miles west of Joliet Union Station and a couple miles east of Logistics Park Chicago (LPC).
Thank you for watching. Comments and ratings are always welcomed.
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~*~PLEASE COMMENT!!~*~ EXTREME RAILFANNING ACTION ON NOVEMBER 18TH, 2009!by NicTrain352,689 views
Awesome! A couple more fire departments that were ther Bristol-Kendall (Yorkville) and Troy. They both responded with tankers (along with many others), and were doing water shuttles, which is where they dump all there water into a portable tank and have other firetrucks suck up the water and pr it on the fire. The tankers then go refill themselfs a few tiles and repeat.
rykember11 2 years ago