At approximately 12:26hrs on January 11th, Yorktown Heights Fire was requested to relocate Ladder 51 to the Montrose Fire District HQ as multiple fire companies from the Cortlandt area were operating at a 2nd alarm incident on Albany Post Rd.
Car 2532 and Ladder 51 with a full crew signed on to fulfill the assignment shortly after dispatch. While en-route, the YHFD assignment was upgraded to also include our Firefighter Assist & Search Team (FAST) to the scene, adding Rescue 16 on the run.
Upon arrival, the 9 Yorktown Heights Volunteer Firefighters from L-51 & R-16 split up into two teams to cover the large footprint of the industrial complex to monitor fireground operations.
As companies were continuing to operate and YHFD FAST was conducting their scene survey. YHFD members began to notice a change in conditions coming from a storage container with hazardous materials.
YHFD FAST worked with the Montrose IC to have members withdraw from the “hot zone”, establish a perimeter to keep operating companies away from the area and coordinated with WCDES Haz-Mat as they worked to identify the products involved and set up foam operations while simultaneously establishing a plan for the Haz-Mat Decon Task Force from Squad 6 (Greenville FD, Fairview FD, & Hartsdale FD) and VAFD Montrose to provide decontamination of companies operating on scene, followed by evaluation, documentation and medical screening by EMS assets on scene.
All Yorktown Heights Fire units cleared the fire scene at approximately 16:30hrs.
*please note: some photos are courtesy of Frank Becerra Jr./The Journal News & the Hartsdale FD*