MURRAY – The Kentucky state fire marshal’s office will be investigating a chemical explosion that occurred in a Murray State University chemistry lab Tuesday, according to Murray Fire Chief Eric Pologruto.
Shortly before 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, Murray State’s social media accounts said MSU Police were responding to a “chemical leak” at the chemistry building, Jesse D. Jones Hall. The post said emergency responders were on the scene, and people were warned to stay out of the area until further notice. Almost two hours later, the university said there was “no immediate danger” to the chemistry building at that time, and the outdoor area of the Gene W. Ray Science Campus was open again. The three science complex buildings remained closed for the rest of the day, canceling classes there.
Tuesday evening, the university’s social media accounts posted another update, saying that three individuals who had been inside the building had been treated at Murray-Calloway County Hospital before being released. Classes were back in session Wednesday, but the university said there would be no laboratory activities in the chemistry building that day.
Pologruto said the initial call to the Murray Fire Department came in as a fire alarm, but firefighters learned more when they arrived at the scene.
“When we had been there for maybe a few minutes, someone actually walked up to one of our drivers of the fire truck, one of the pump operators who was still outside, and informed them, ‘Hey, there's actually been an explosion inside,’” Pologruto said. “It kind of caught everyone off guard a little bit since they were originally going there for what they thought was just a fire alarm. The fire alarm system did go off; however, the fact that we were there when we were told there was actually an explosion changed everything for us pretty quick.
“We got some more background information and found out that a chemistry class was going on when the explosion occurred, and then that turned it into a hazardous materials call for us. So we had to get our HAZMAT trailer and our HAZMAT technicians to the scene to mobilize our hazardous materials team. Our initial efforts were focused on evacuation of the building, and once we achieved that, we met with the chemistry professors that were in charge. I found out a little bit more about the chemical that was involved, and from there, we developed a plan on how we thought best to neutralize the chemical that was there and to ventilate the area to ensure that we didn't have any secondary explosions. We did that alongside the professors and we were able to render the scene safe.”
Pologruto said the chemical involved was lithium aluminum hydride.
“It’s a common chemical that they use in labs, but the byproduct of that when it's heated is hydrogen gas,” Pologruto said. “It’s not an atypical substance that they use in the lab, and according to the professors, they use it all the time for their experiments and lab work education. They just had a problem with it this time. Thankfully (it only resulted in a minor injury).”
Pologruto said he could not speak to the size of the explosion, but did say it was isolated to one classroom. He said Fire Marshal Greg Molinar turned the investigation over to the Office of the State Fire Marshal because that office has jurisdiction over any incident that occurs at a state-owned facility.
Shawn Touney, Murray State’s executive director of marketing and communication branding, marketing and communication, said Wednesday afternoon that the university had no further comment on the incident beyond Tuesday’s final social media update.
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