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Police: Employee set fire at Chicago air traffic site

Officials said it was not a terrorist act and that the investigation is being run by multiple departments

The Associated Press

CHICAGO — A fire at a suburban Chicago air traffic control facility that shut down the city’s two airports Friday was intentionally set by a contract employee, police said.

The early morning fire forced the evacuation of the control center in Aurora, about 40 miles west of downtown Chicago. Emergency crews found a man in the basement with a self-inflicted wound and took him to a hospital.

The man was a contract employee of the Federal Aviation Administration, said Aurora Police Chief Gregory Thomas. He said it was not a terrorist act and that the investigation was being run by the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and local police and fire departments.