Officials say the fire broke out shortly after noon on Tuesday inside the warehouse of a beauty supply wholesaler at 143 Woodworth Avenue, European Beauty Concepts, eventually escalating to a three-alarm fire.
They say there were household beauty chemicals in containers on a pallet inside the location.
Officials believe a forklift moving products around may have damaged one of the containers that caused it to spill, creating a reaction and a toxic cloud of hair and nail treatment chemicals.
"About an hour into the incident, the chemical reaction intensified and created an exothermic reaction which initiated a fire inside, which quickly turned into a three-alarm structure fire," said Yonkers Fire Commissioner William Fitzpatrick.
The chemicals fueled the flames, and it became a much bigger job for the fire department.
"It was kind of jarring because I was actually working so all of the power went out and then looking out we saw all the smoke billowing out," said Veronica Coates, who lost power.
Initially, police had everyone shelter in place as they went throughout the neighborhood to check on residents.
Seven homes on Lamartine Avenue were evacuated, but no buildings were damaged.
Officials say no civilians were injured, but a few firefighters were treated for minor injuries.
The smoke drifting over the Amtrak and Metro-North tracks along the Hudson River from the chemical fire caused the MTA to shut down the train tracks for several hours disrupting service.
The fire has been placed under control.
Neighbors returned home after having to wait until it was safe, but were worried about the chemicals which were capable of doing so much potential harm.
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