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Anchorage firefighters and University of Alaska Anchorage police responded at about 3:30 p.m. Wednesday to a hazardous-materials incident at the ConocoPhillips Integrated Science Building, at 3101 Science Cir. UAA officials say a chemical spill in a classroom prompted police to evacuate the building, with responders investigating the spill. (Courtesy Allison Horazdovsky / January 30, 2013) |
A chemical spill in a science building at the University of Alaska Anchorage Wednesday prompted campus police to temporarily evacuate the facility, with local firefighters responding to the incident as a hazardous-materials call.
UAA officials say a lab worker in the ConocoPhillips Integrated Science Building, on 3101 Science Cir., knocked some calcium carbide -- which creates a flammable gas when it reacts with water -- into a laboratory drain at about 3:25 p.m.
AFD hazmat crews searched the building with detection equipment after it was evacuated, with students allowed back into the building just after 4:15 p.m. Dispatchers confirmed that fire crews had left the scene, with notes on the call saying the problem had been "mitigated."
University Police Department officials say the building was evacuated at about 3:30 p.m. for safety reasons, with no immediate estimate available on how many people were inside it at the time.
Contact Abby Hancock and Chris Klint
