A three-alarm fire destroyed a warehouse at TC Dunham Paint & Coatings Inc.'s headquarters in Yonkers, N.Y., on Wednesday evening, according to the company. As a result of the blaze, approximately 30,000 gallons of polyurethane coatings and manufacturing material were destroyed, with some of it spilling into the adjacent Saw Mill River and finding its way to the Hudson River.
A three-alarm fire destroyed a warehouse at TC Dunham Paint & Coatings Inc.'s headquarters in Yonkers, N.Y., on Wednesday evening, according to the company. As a result of the blaze, approximately 30,000 gallons of polyurethane coatings and manufacturing material were destroyed, with some of it spilling into the adjacent Saw Mill River and finding its way to the Hudson River.
The blaze started around 10 p.m. Wednesday; fueled by industrial chemicals inside the warehouse, it burned into Thursday morning. Ely Fisch, general manager for TC Dunham, said early indications point to a wiring mishap as the fire's cause.
A passerby noticed flames and alerted firefighters at Yonkers' Fire Station 10, which is just two buildings southwest from TC Dunham. A total of 75 firefighters were involved in fighting the fire, and nine were injured, according to The Journal News. No TC Dunham workers were injured since the building was closed when the fire began.
TC Dunham's manufacturing operations were not damaged in the fire, and the company does not expect any meaningful disruptions in getting its products to customers, Fisch said. The company plans to raze the warehouse soon. "Hopefully next week Monday we'll be back manufacturing and building up inventory again. And then hopefully by the end of next week, we'll be able to ship again. We're going to be working 24/7," Fisch said.
Rob Friedman, a boat and water quality program consultant with the nonprofit environmental watchdog group Riverkeeper, said the Saw Mill and Hudson rivers appeared milky white on Thursday. "The paint was water-soluble, so it was mixing with the water; it wasn't just sitting on the surface," Friedman said.
According to multiple media outlets based in New York, firefighters tried to contain the fire's runoff by digging trenches around the warehouse and placing booms in Saw Mill River. "In the back of our building, we have about 40 feet-there's the Saw Mill River and that goes into the Hudson River," Fisch said.
