Former MIT chemist forces evacuation of Beacon Hill brownstone
By adamg - Wed, 07/02/2008 - 7:57am.
Several-hour standoff, SWAT, hazmat units called in. Channel 5: The building smelled of chemicals at 21 Temple St.. The Globe has more, says the woman lived on the fourth floor.
Boston Police say the SWAT unit was called in when officers on the scene determined she'd barricaded herself in her apartment. The woman was taken to Mass. General for evaluation.
City assessing records and a Google search show that the owner of one fourth-floor unit is Kristine Holley, a biochemist who has done work at MIT on fighting cancer growth by trying to prevent tumors from growing blood vessels. Just nine days ago, she and colleagues were awarded a patent for a new way of preparing heparin.
What A Party!
I guess to much celebration may lead to mixing up the reagents?
nice job, BFD!
Several nearby buildings were evacuated as a precaution, with others cordoned off. Residents were not allowed to leave the scene's perimeter.
Great. So not only do they evacuate everyone for a block or two because "ZOMG SHES A CHEMIST", but they refuse to let people leave to go stay at a friend's place, a hotel, etc to get some sleep?
I'm so sick and tired of "public safety" officials acting like power-tripping assholes, doing whatever they want with no consideration to the people they're pushing around without the slightest compassion.
For god's sake, the ZOMG
For god's sake, the ZOMG thing, the lolcat's stuff, ron paul, all that shit is so passe.
lolcat
I can haz mat?
With that answer
You can haz anything you watn, FTW.
wuzzat? iz zis alicez
wuzzat? iz zis alicez restauratn? lol
g00d!
Restront! I can haz cheezburgr then!
where u @?
cheebugr cheebugr cheebugr, no coke, pepse
Yeah precaution schmecaution (warning... heavy sarcasm)
So what if she's a biological chemist on an *alleged* meltdown becuase she didn't take her meds. Who cares about the strange odor coming from her apartment. It wasn't like she actually mixed up some deadly chlorine gas (oh wait..)
I think the risk of potentially infectious diseases being released into the city warrants keeping people around to be decontaminated don't you?
Yeah sarcasm barfasm (schmecaution... heavy condescendasm)
what?
re: Yeah sarcasm barfasm (schecaution... heavy condescendasm)
Exactly.... what? That was a great argument. I think the point of my message is pretty clear.
This message is to you, "Nice Job, BFD"
This message to is you, "Nice Job, BFD": Get off your high horse.
What I am sick of is self-absorbed assholes like YOU who bitch and moan because someone has caused a situation and now your building is being evacuated and OH NO, NO FACEBOOK FOR LIKE 4 HOURS! Where is your anger for the woman who caused all this? If it wasn't for her, all of these "power-tripping" public safety "assholes" wouldn't be stuck there tying up valuable resources because some woman's bulb cracked. I suppose all of the firefighters were drunk and/or high too, right? That must have been why they were treating everybody so badly.
What you and all of the other self-absorbers don't realize is that these officials are putting THEIR life on the the line to make sure you even have a chance to go to bed safely, and that the chemicals are neutral and won't harm anybody right then or later on. So, if Mr/s. Firefighter or Mr/s. Police Officer asks you to do something, it is not because he or she is a power tripping asshole; there is a reason for it.
Stop complaining; at least you had a place to go back to afterwards. Sometimes, people aren't so lucky.
And yes, if you were wondering, I am a firefighter, and proud of it too.
um
um you're complaining about a guy who posted a comment, rather effectively too, and then you tell him to stop complaining. do you see the irony in that?
Thanks for being there when we need your help to protect people from injury and death and things from destruction by fire and hazardous materials. all the best.
Isn't it disturbing that the
Isn't it disturbing that the FOX 25 studios are minutes away from Temple St. and they still ran the story as a "meth lab"? We had it right on That Hottness last night after a 5-minute conversation with firefighters:
thathottness.com...false-reports-of-meth-lab-at-temple-street-standoff/
No kidding
Good call on that one. I saw their teaser for "breaking news" on Fox25 last night about a meth lab and Beacon Hill and I just assumed they had no idea what they were talking about. Woke up this morning and saw that I was proven right.
oh fox news
I actually reside in the floor below the unit belonging to the woman who caused the hazmat situation. Most of the news stations on the scene interviewed me, and we repeatedly told Fox News that the meth lab story was only a rumor. We assured them of this several times, yet they ignored the truth and ran a completely ridiculous story without any real sources. The woman is an intelligent chemist who happens to be mentally disturbed and missed her medications. She owns a brownstone on Beacon Hill, hardly a drug dealer or producer. Just an ill woman who was messing with household cleaners and created a dangerous chemical mixture which was poured and spread throughout her unit. Way to go Fox News, ridiculous. As a journalism student and aspiring reporter myself, it killed me to watch the poor reporting done on the scene which I stood at for 16 hours straight.
Method Lab
She was mixing only upscale cleaners in clear trendy bottles ... they misheard.
mmm...method...
You're giving me a sudden urge to go clean things.
Molly has referred to my "Method lab" when she comes home and the floors smell like almond, the bathroom smells like mint, the counters smell like cucumber, the food preparation surfaces smell like grapefruit, the stainless steel surfaces smell like apple blossoms...must...resist...urge...
...visions of spraybottles and microfiber polishing cloths...
...step...away...from...cabinet...
Well, if Molly's tired of it ...
You are welcome to visit us sometime :-)
Since I upgraded the kitchen, I do enjoy using Trader Zen green stuff on the granite and stainless steel. Not quite the foody smell, but pleasant enough.
The Boston routine
I think we're familiar with the routine by now: 1. Make sensationalistic headlines. 2. Charge her with having a "hoax device." 3. Admit that something almost completely innocuous happen but make righteous noises anyway.
I loved this from the Glob
I loved this from the Glob story:
*snort*
I suppose someone who doesn't know what they're doing with chemicals would make it a good situation? Like, oh, I dunno, mixing up a bunch of household cleaners such as ammonia and bleach?
I leave the results of that concoction as an exercise for the reader. (Hint: Don't try this at home!)
Interesting ...
Having known people in grad school who used to tell lovely "darwin award" worthy lunchtime stories from their days as investigators of industrial accidents, I had the distinct impression that it would be the other way around.
Is an abstinence-based Chemistry curriculum next?
Given the state and fire chief's reaction when the federal investigative board for chemical explosions showed up after the Danvers blast, seems they may already have one in place.
State or federal regulation needed
I think it's clear based on the immediate reactions in this situation that we're looking at two chemicals that are just too dangerous. Using the pseudoephedrine registration system (picture ID, recording of purchased amount, and signature) as a guideline, I believe we should require similar regulation for products containing ammonia and bleach. It may be reasonable to only require registration when these items are being purchased simultaneously, but that would also be far too easy to side-step. Given the danger posed by the mixing of these two "household" chemicals, I believe any purchase, separate or together, should require a picture ID, amount purchased, and signature recording for either federal or state oversight.