Arlington Heights firefighters were awakened for an unusual alarm at about 3 a.m. Friday. Several clear, frozen objects or debris hit the manufacturing plant of Weber Marking Systems, 711 West Algonquin Road in Arlington Heights, Illinois [MAP/SAT]. Weber Marking Systems world headquarters is located near the plant. No one was near the incident site and no one was injured.
The Arlington Heights Police department and the FAA are investigating the incident. Nobody is saying whether or not the objects are suspected of coming from an aircraft. Blue ice — frozen wastewater — from an aircraft has been ruled out, but icy sources from other water supplies on an aircraft have not been ruled out. The building is in flight paths to and from O’Hare International Airport, which is less than six miles away. The force of the objects — about four inches diameter — was enough to create a two by four-foot hole in the roof and bring the objects through the roof.
Weber Marking Systems is located in at least 16 other countries and designs and produces label printers, labels, such as compact disc labels, and RFID smart labels (radio frequency identification labels).