Hazmat response triggered by chemical fire in Yonkers neighborhood

YONKERS, NY (PIX11) — Fire crews battled a three-alarm chemical fire in Yonkers Saturday morning after neighbors reported smoke overnight. 

Investigators said it’s the second fire this month at a beauty products factory near Woodworth and Lamartine Avenues. 

According to the Yonkers Fire Department, smoke from a chemical reaction was first detected around 3:00 am and ignited into flames hours later. 

“The full assignment arrived and saw heavy smoke in the area, made entry immediately, and found out that it was a chemical release and not a structure fire,” said PJ Goldfeder of the Yonkers Fire Department. “We converted it to a Hazmat response at that point to monitor everything and try to confine it, and about four hours later, it escalated into a major structure fire.”

The flames ignited inside a European Beauty Concepts warehouse. The company sells, stores, and transports beauty products and chemicals, according to YFD. Investigators confirmed this is the second chemical fire at this same facility in just over two weeks, following a similar fire on September 2nd. Glenny De Jesus lives next door to the warehouse and said she’ll be staying indoors all day, to avoid exposing her young children to the smoke outside, which fire officials said is toxic. 

“A lot of smoke," De Jesus said. "It’s not healthy for the baby, so we had to shut all the windows down."

She added, “Health conditions. My son has really bad allergies, and the smoke is not good.”

Multiple agencies responded to battle the fire, which forced several nearby streets to close. Fire officials said the warehouse owners were in the process of obtaining a removal permit from Yonkers' Department of Housing and Buildings to safely dispose of the chemicals, but the second fire broke out before that could be completed. Crews immediately recognized the dangers when they arrived at the scene. 

“When members got here and saw which building it was, they knew immediately it was chemically involved so it made it a bit easier,” said Goldfeder. “We were a little more stand-offish to, at first, find out what the chemicals were before we made the entry.”

We reached out to the Yonkers Department of Housing and Buildings, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, as well as the owners of the facility for comment and are waiting to hear back. 

Fire officials said there were minor firefighter injuries. They also said some residents evacuated due to their close proximity to the fire. No other evacuations or injuries have been reported.