A HAZARDOUS chemical incident in Church Crookham was caused by someone mixing a dangerous concoction of household chemicals, according to firefighters.

At 9.15pm last Saturday, fire crews, police, paramedics and the Hazardous Area Response Team (HART) were called to Pine Grove, where they spent more than four hours dealing with the incident.

The emergency response came after a woman was said to have mixed up a dangerous concoction of chemicals in an attempt to clean out her caravan’s water system.

Watch manager Kevin Griffiths, from Fleet fire station, said: “It was down to mixing some excessive amounts of cleaning products together, which then caused a chemical reaction.

“It had gone on for a few days. We were initially called to the smell of burning, she was concerned the chemicals had burnt something.

“There was a strong smell of unknown chemicals in the air. It was a caravan... she was using it to clean the water system.

“She used excessive amounts and then put something else on top. Just mixing household chemicals.”

The woman involved in the incident was said to be “fine”, however the watch commander said that due to the dangerous nature of the incident, a 25-metre cordon was placed around the scene, while all residents within the zone were advised to keep their windows and doors firmly closed.

“She was assessed initially by fire crews and then HART.

“It was a joint agency operation. The amount of resources that were there looked excessive but it was actually to keep everybody safe.”

Mr Griffiths added: “Initially we have to do it in a slow and cautious way, we do not want to put any members of the public or ourselves at risk.

“Fleet crew members were there first and we quickly realised this was a hazardous material incident.

“We called for extra equipment which is held within Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service .

“We made the scene safe using breathing apparatus and just made sure there was no further risk.

“The chemicals are now contained and the incident was handed over to the police in the end.”

He added that a specialist agency was despatched to clean the concoction of chemicals away.