Officials Determine Cause of Croton Hazmat Situation

Officials have determined what kind of chemicals caused a Hazmat situation in Croton on June 24. Investigators say typical household chemical, spilling into a flooded basement at 61 Young Ave., are to blame. The incident caused a portion of the avenue to be shut down in until 3:30 p.m.

The Fire Department arrived at the home at 12:15 p.m. They were called to the house because of flooding. When firefighters went down into the home's basement, their equipment started to indicate that there were explosive gas levels in the home. Firefighters later discovered that there was an unidentified household chemical in the home's two-foot-high basement floodwaters.

"We were able to pump off some of the water and get it away from the house. But right now it's receded a little bit. We're holding off on pumping it out because the chemical are mixed in with it," said Croton 1st Assistant Fire Chief John Munson.

Montrose V.A. Hospital’s Fire Department's Hazmat team was on scene trying to figure out what the chemicals in the basement were. When they finally did identify the chemicals, a private cleaning company was called in to remove the water in the home’s basement.