Mounties in Ladysmith are investigating after two transformers were knocked to the ground near a grocery store, spilling hazardous material.

Police were called to a delivery area behind a Save-On-Foods Wednesday to find two 450-kilogram decommissioned transformers had fallen off a one-storey-high platform.

An unknown amount of hazardous material believed to contain polychlorinated biphenyl, or PCB, leaked from the transformers, prompting first responders to cordon off the area.

RCMP believe thieves may have been trying to strip the transformers of copper, but it hasn't been confirmed whether copper was taken.

"I think it's selling for a pretty high value right now so people are selling that to get money," said Const. Chrstine Pearce.

She said there were no surveillance cameras in the area.

The grocery store remained open as police secured the delivery zone.