Mar 29, 2008 12:15 pm US/Eastern
Mt. Vernon Officials: Initial Air Tests Clear
Health Dept. Urged Residents To Stay Inside
MOUNT VERNON, N.Y. (CBS) ―
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Health officials found no air contamination following this blaze at a chemical plant in Mount Vernon.
CBS
Mount Vernon residents can open their windows and breathe easy Saturday. Westchester County health officials conducted air tests through the morning, and even though flames shot out of KEM Chemical Corp. on Friday night, officials say the air is fine.
Residents 20 miles away in Queens reported smelling the burn. Air-quality tests and checks for any hazardous material oozing from the collapsed warehouse found no dangerous contamination as of early Saturday, according to the Mount Vernon Fire Department.
Tests continued as firefighters searched for any smoldering areas remaining after Friday night's blaze. The fire spread to two other buildings in the largely industrial neighborhood around the South Fulton Avenue building, but no injuries were reported.
"It's rough and I live here so I'm concerned about the kids and everybody," one resident told CBS 2 HD. "I just hope it's nothing serious."
Initial reports said the chemical warehouse on East 7th Street and South Fulton may have contained hydrochloric acid, nitric acid, sulfuric acid and acetone.
With the burning chemicals posing a potential danger to nearby residents firefighters went door to door evacuating people in the neighborhood like Glen Reinhardt.
"I walked out to go into the kitchen and I seen the fire department," Reinhardt said. "Tell the people in the back to get out."
Mount Vernon Fire Chief Al Everett said so far there have been no injuries.
"Everyone is accounted for, no workers missing," Everett said. "Certainly none of our firefighters entered the building and they're all safe. So it's too premature to guess what caused the fire."
The fire spread to some neighboring businesses. Sergio Rogliano watched and worried about what might happen to his excavation company downwind from the fire.
The Westchester County Department of Health was on site throughout Friday night testing the air quality. They are urging residents living nearby to stay indoors and keep their windows closed.
Residents in Pelham, to the east of Mount Vernon, were advised to stay indoors and keep their windows shut because smoke from the fire was blowing in their direction. Police Sgt. Glenn Scott said businesses downwind of the fire were told to evacuate.
Flames shot 15 to 20 feet from the warehouse roof, said witness Peter Tsachalis.
"It was going pretty intense," said Tsachalis, who owns a tow-truck business and a couple of rental homes directly behind the chemical supplier. His four tenants and their two pets got out safely, and firefighters kept the fire from spreading to his property, he said.
The company's main building had collapsed, the Fire Department said. An area of several square blocks around the fire had been cordoned off, with no one allowed inside.
The Red Cross stood ready to help residents if the area was declared unsafe, said John Rabitz, chief executive officer of the organization's Westchester County chapter.
Angela Cox, a spokeswoman for Pelham's schools, said police interrupted a school play and told everyone to leave because of the fire.
"They said it was a precaution. Everybody got out safely," Cox said.
It wasn't immediately clear what risks nearby residents faced by breathing fumes from the fire. Inhaling the acids can irritate the nose, throat or respiratory system, according to the federal government's National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. Inhaling acetone, a common component of nail polish remover, can also cause dizziness or headaches, the institute says.
KEM Chemical specializes in supplying acids and other chemicals for microelectronics manufacturers, according to its Web site. The 47-year-old business is a relatively small, often producing chemicals in volumes smaller than the manufacturers want to make for themselves, the Web site says.
A call to the company yielded a busy signal Friday night, and an e-mail message to company representatives was not immediately answered.
Please stay with CBS 2 HD and wcbstv.com for more on this developing story.
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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