Did you catch the big scramble of firetrucks, police, and road blocks this afternoon on Daniel Avenue, near SMU’s law and science buildings? The commotion came of a sodium hydride spill around 3:20 p.m. in the Fondren Science Building, says Steve Mace with the University Park Police Department — and all in all, everything’s OK.
“Interestingly, it was a student trying to dilute the product with ice water so that it could be disposed of,” Mace said. The student splashed a bit of the chemical on her pant leg, he added, suffering minor burns on her ankle, and sought treatment at the campus health center. A resulting flash fire, which was brief, got doused with sand as students and teachers evacuated the building.
And about an hour ago, when photographer Christina Barany and I happened on the scene above, we got some perspective from other lab-goers down the hall: It was no big deal. Really.
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