Hazmat incident causes confusion and speculation in Hegins

By Rebecca Zemencik, Managing Editor • rebecca-z@citizenstandard.com

cs22hazmatincidentp1 — Rebecca Zemencik/Citizen-Standard Photo A home at 633 Chestnut Street, Hegins, the former Hegins Manufacturing Company, a garment factory, was the scene of a Hazmat incident Sunday evening that had fire personnel scrambling to determine what the chemical was that was leaking from a 50-gallon drum in the basement of the building. Chestnut Street was closed and neighbors were told to stay indoors, close all windows and don’t run their air-conditioning units.

HEGINS – The 600 block of Chestnut Street in Hegins was in a bit of a frenzy Sunday evening.
Emergency personnel were on the scene of a hazmat incident at 633 Chestnut Street, the site of the former Hegins Manufacturing, now a private residence.
According to fire personnel, they arrived on scene just before 6 p.m. and weren’t sure exactly what they were dealing with.
“The incident involved a 55-gallon drum of some type of chemical which was leaking in the basement of the building,” said Hegins Valley Fire-Rescue Chief Doug Williams, during a phone interview Monday morning. “He said there was a strong odor of ammonia and there was definitely ammonia present in the drum. What exactly the chemical was used for still hasn’t been determined. It could have been some type of floor cleaner from the days of the factory.”

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