NEW ROCHELLE, NY — A chemical spill at the New Rochelle YMCA at 50 Weyman Avenue has caused a hazmat incident, causing multiple injuries.
New Rochelle Police and Fire Departments were called at 7:14 a.m.
The New Rochelle Police Department has declared a Mass Casualty Incident and requested five ambulances to the New Rochelle YMCA on Weyman Avenue.
“Mass Casualty” incident in New Rochelle at the YMCA. Chlorine mistakenly mixed with another chemical filled the building with fumes. 11 taken to hospital. Witnesses say it felt like their lungs were on fire, mad dash to escape the building. pic.twitter.com/qREPulHz1N
— Tony Aiello (@AielloTV) September 20, 2021
Thirteen people were injured, according to New Rochelle Police.
UPDATE: Tony Aiello says NRFD says hydrochloric acid was mixed with chlorine.
UPDATE: Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx is setting up for Decontamination of patients from the New Rochelle YMCA. Larchmont Volunteer Ambulance Corps and Eastchester Volunteer Ambulance Corps are transporting 4 people with Advanced Life Support to Jacobi. One person is in severe respiratory distress.
UPDATE: Avoid the area of Home Depot in New Rochelle on Weyman Avenue. Air quality issue due to release of chemical vapors at New Rochelle YMCA.
UPDATE: New York City Fire Department is setting up Decontamination at Jacobi.
UPDATE: New Rochelle EMS transporting 3 people to White Plains Hospital, two on Advance Life Support, 1 on Basic Life Support.
UPDATE: Pelham Manor Fire Department assisting. Pelham Manor Fire Chief Ruggiero reports that the outdoor air in the area appears to be unaffected at this time.
Residents are asked to avoid the area near the Home Depot in New Rochelle. Although the facts are not clear at this time, it appears as though a pool chemical accident has occurred at the YMCA on Weyman Ave. in New Rochelle There is a large police, fire and EMS presences in the area as the situation is being addressed. Any unnecessary traffic in the area will impede emergency response.
UPDATE: NRPD PRESS RELEASE: Chemical Exposure – Multiple Medical Cases
On September 20th, 2021, at about 07:14am, New Rochelle Police Officers and New Rochelle Fire Fighters responded to the YMCA at 50 Weyman Avenue on a report of a chemical exposure causing respiratory distress to multiple patrons.
The cause of the exposure is under investigation by New Rochelle Police Detectives and at this time, appears to be that an accidental mixture of chemicals created a hazardous condition leading to respiratory distress to 13 people who were transported to area hospitals.Current information indicates that this incident was indeed accidental and not criminal in nature.
Further inquiries can be made to the New Rochelle Fire Department at 914-654-2212.
Tony Aiello of CBS2 interviewed witnesses and victims here.
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13 Injured at New Rochelle YMCA in HazMat Incident Involving Toxic Pool Chemicals
Nobody ever said the article wasn’t correct.
The article is correct but the title is wrong. lol Just post the same article with a corrected title. You’re better than this, Mr. Cox. (Change the link to the new article on Facebook!)
The guy who wrote the article is using a title that is wrong, giving misinformation to his readers! And he said he doesn’t care if it bothers people, because it’s not his concern.. He said if we want headlines which accurately represent the articles, we should start our own news company. WOW. No wonder why so many people don’t like this guy, at all!
The article is entirely correct. Try reading it. Cheerio!
I think you should write a separate article, then, with an accurate title, as real reporters would do. It’s not a priority? That’s sad.
Imagine how important it is to me that people I do not know and do not identify themselves express their opinions.
It always amazes me that such people operate under the delusion that I care what they think 🙄
The title of your article is very misleading. It was not a chemical spill, as you note in your updates, but you should revise the title.
Now that you know it was not a spill, why not correct your title so that people are not misinformed?
Barry — as I have explained in the past, which I gather folks do not understand, changing the title breaks the link which will cause 404 errors. The headline reflects the state of things at the time I broke the story. I could write ANOTHER story with a different headline but I am in Wisconsin at the Ryder Cup and it is not priority. The story is clearly updated so anyone who READS the story will see all the information as it came out.
For anyone who is concerned about this, I am not. Feel free to create your own news outlet and you can write all the headlines as you like. Cheers!
Asked and answered but thank you for your concern.
I have a kid in Pre K at this YMCA. Luckily it happened before the kids get in to the facility. Why the city put a class with bunch of very young kids here with dangerous chemicals around.
Making phone calls to New Rochelle authorities but all of them answered that they didn’t hear anything abt this accident yet…
😡
Geez—ammonia plus chlorine would create mustard gas.
It wasn’t a “spill” as stated in the title of the article, here—it was actually two chemicals that were mixed together!
It seems strange that they would have acid on hand to “accidentally” mix with chlorine…something like ammonia would be a bit easier to understand! It makes me wonder if this truly was an innocent accident….
Dispatch put out the call as a chemical spill and as first to report this incident we reported it that way.
As more information became available the story was updated — multiple times.