Fire, Explosions Destroyed Trailers At Croton-Harmon Yards

CROTON-ON-HUDSON, NY — Trailers and storage containers owned by a contractor for Metro-North Railroad burned in an explosive fire Sunday morning at the Harmon Yards.

The trailers and storage containers were owned by IDL Electric, MTA spokesman Aaron Donovan said.

Firefighters were dispatched at 1:37 a.m., Croton-on-Hudson fire officials said on Facebook. They found one trailer already fully engulfed, with fire extending to additional trailers and threatening cabinets full of flammable fluids and steel storage containers loaded with combustibles.

"Due to the coordinated and quick efforts of all on scene, additional storage containers - many containing flammable, combustible and even explosive materials - never became involved," fire officials said on the website. "However, a number of smaller explosions from various products in the involved trailers did occur, some of which may have helped in the fire's rapid spread. Westchester County's Haz-Mat Chief Car 2001 was requested to the scene to evaluate runoff from the trailers as well."

Firefighters battled the flames and several explosions in below-freezing temperatures, but brought the blaze under control and cleared the scene in four hours, Croton fire officials said.

Volunteer departments assisting from nearby communities included Ossining, Millwood, Montrose, Montrose VA, Peekskill, Buchanan and Yorktown at the scene and Verplanck and Mohegan at Croton firehouses in case of other emergencies.

There was no impact to train service or Metro-North infrastructure, Donovan said. MTA Police are assisting Croton-on-Hudson to investigate the fire's origin.