Hey, there! Log in / Register
Explosion at BU science center
By adamg on Wed, 06/24/2009 - 8:56pm
Small chemical explosion on the third floor, 590 Comm. Ave., around 8:45 p.m., hazmat team on the way.
Neighborhoods:
Free tagging:
Ad:
Support Universal Hub
Help keep Universal Hub going. If you like what we're up to and want to help out, please consider a (completely non-deductible) contribution.
Comments
Not uncommon
Hopefully no one was hurt.
Lab safety incidents usually aren't considered very newsworthy, as far as I can tell. A bunch of serious processes kick in when there's an incident ("Sh*t, I spilled the ___."), but it's usually a non-event as far as people outside the building are concerned. Even small explosions don't necessarily make the news.
When I was learning news photography, I did find that security staff around certain biotech buildings seem nervous, even if you're just standing there with your cameras hanging down and watching to see if there's an actual story. :)
Boston Police report no injuries
So in the greater scheme of things, not the biggest of deals, perhaps. But anytime Kenmore Square fills up with firetrucks, people probably want to know what's going on.
Semi-newsworthy, maybe
I was walking by there and saw the commotion. The emergency response was pretty ridiculously large. The usual number of vehicles for a working fire, plus the hazmat crew, a few more district command cars, a couple of ambulances, and two EMS support trucks. A large area in front of the building was closed off with police tape. By 9:40 they hadn't even attempted to enter the area of the spill yet; they were still searching the building to make sure everyone was out.
The BFD incident commander was in front of the building around that time, briefing a bunch of local TV reporters. But one of of them didn't seem too impressed so in the middle of the briefing she whispered to her cameraman "Let's skip out of here" and they took off. I guess chemical spills just don't make for great news :-)
I disagree. Explosions are
I disagree. Explosions are required to be reported to authorities and will result in a hazmat response at least for the moment.
Sorry, I was unclear
Yes, these things get reported and the processes (including emergency response) kick in, and they are taken very seriously by personnel and such.
I just meant that ordinary citizens don't hear about most of these in the news, and that the incidents are usually not as scary as they sound from the sound bites when citizens do hear about them.
"Explosion?! Hazmat?! Freak lab accident imbues grad student with super powers?!"
Yup, the most scary thing
Yup, the most scary thing was all the fire trucks. This is from a report on a BU mailing the following day:
... the explosion originated around 8:30 in a flameproof cabinet used to store chemical waste. Fortunately, damage was minimal and nobody was injured. The Boston Fire Department responded and later released the scene to members of Environmental Health and Safety.
You're right: Happens all the time
Or about once every three weeks in Boston, according to the Daily Free Press article on the incident, caused by somebody mixing two incompatible chemicals in a cabinet used to store stuff for disposal.
Yes, it was a serious explosion
Contrary to the rampant speculation among commenters above, WBZ reports that it was a real explosion and not some grad student who was afraid of popping a little sulfur with a match:
Reminds me of my hydrogen episode...
...which I'm sure almost everybody has experienced. 8th grade science class, collecting hydrogen in a beaker thru electrolysis(maybe?), then lighting it. Lets just say we had a much bigger beaker than we should have.... ;-)
Thermometer incident
My lesson: If you're using a large thermometer to track the temperature of something you're distilling, leave room at the end of the tube for the stuff to come out, or the pressure builds up and all of a sudden you've got a missile shooting across the room and shattering against a wall where, luckily, nobody was standing.