Drain Cleaner + Bleach = 911 Call, Closing Main Street in Ossining

A building super trying to unclog a drain caused a toxic chemical reaction that evacuated two apartments, closed Main Street and landed him in the hospital Wednesday night.

Ossining firefighters, police and OVAC were called out at 10 p.m. to 175 Main St., said Fire Chief Tom Reddy. The second-floor apartments were filled with fumes. The building's landlord had poured first a drain-cleaner down the sink, and used bleach when the clog didn't respond.

According to tenant Ryan Albach, the super was trying to fix a backing-up bathroom sink. 

"I saw him pour in the bleach," said Albach. "It started smelling pretty bad. I went downstairs and came back 15 minutes later, and the fumes were so bad it burned my eyes, I could feel it in my lungs. I got out of there."

A few minutes later the landlord staggered out and asked them to call 911, said Albach, 20. "I've never read the back of one of those things."

After the apartments were evacuated, firefighters went in with self-contained breathing apparatus and ventilated the floor and diluted the sink and drain until there was no longer a hazardous concentration of chemicals, Reddy said. The Ossining Volunteer Ambulance Corps checked out the tenants and transported the super to Phelps Memorial Hospital Center in Sleepy Hollow.

Main Street was closed to westbound traffic between Highland Avenue and Spring Street for an hour.