Extra-alarm fire under control near pallet company, shipping storage yard in Back of the Yards

CHICAGO (CBS) -- Firefighters spent more than two hours on Tuesday afternoon battling an extra-alarm fire sandwiched between a wooden pallet company and a shipping container storage yard in the Back of the Yards neighborhood.

The fire started around noon near 50th and Morgan streets. The site where the fire started is on a hill behind a pallet company, which made getting water to it tricky. 

The storage yard is filled with old tires and shrubs, and lots of clumped cotton that could be seen floating in the air as firefighters worked to extinguish the fire.

The blaze was concerning for firefighters, not only because of its proximity to so much highly flammable material, but because it's also not far from several homes, as well as a chemical storage company in the neighborhood.  

Because the fire was so hard to access, a 2-11 alarm was called in to bring in extra manpower and hose lines to help combat the blaze.

Helping contain the flames was a perfectly-timed downpour on the South Side.

Fire Department officials said it was nice having Mother Nature on their side after 12 days of bone dry weather conditions.

No injuries were reported, and the fire was contained by about 2:30 p.m., with nerves cooled off at the pallet company, with thousands of thousands of wooden pallets stored on site, making for the potential the fire could have been much worse if not for CFD's quick work.

In:
• Back of the Yards
• Fire