Cause of Anton's Fire Under Investigation

Investigators are still searching for the reason why a fire erupted inside Anton's restaurant Saturday evening in Croton-on-Hudson. At 6 p.m. the Croton Fire Department was at the scene of a transformer and electrical wire fire at the corner of South Riverside Ave. and Oneida Ave. Shortly after crews arrived at the scene of the fire, the transformer exploded. Smoke then started to billow out of Anton's. Firefighters rushed to stretch a fire hose into the building, while checking the restaurant and apartment upstairs for people inside. Croton's Bravest couldn’t find anyone inside the burning building.

"Crews were fighting the fire in the basement in very smoky and hot conditions," said Croton-on-Hudson 1st Assistant Fire Chief John Munson. "At one point, part of the first floor in the kitchen area collapsed into the basement, leading us to pull our members out of the basement."

After the kitchen area started to collapse, crews worked to put out the flames in the restaurant and the apartment upstairs, but the floor on both levels started to give way. The collapse kept firefighters from getting to the blaze's core.

Croton had about 50 volunteer firefighters who were trying to put out the flames. Also on scene were another 50 volunteers from Yorktown, Montrose, Ossining and Buchanan. One firefighter was checked out by EMS for an injury to his abdomen. Another firefighter was treated for dehydration.

Cortlandt and Ossining EMS were on scene as firefighters battled the blaze. The Millwood Fire Department responded to almost a dozen other incidents while Croton's crews worked to put out the flames at Aton's.

Firefighters were finally able to douse the flames by 9 p.m. This morning the Westchester County Cause and Origin Team is still investigating the cause of the blaze.