A small chemical spill sent multiple hazardous material cleanup crews to UC Davis’ Young Hall on Monday night, Davis fire officials said.
Nate Trauernicht, chief of the Davis and UCD fire departments, said a student was leaving a laboratory inside the building at about 5 p.m. when her personal belongings bumped against a container, spilling about 2 milliliters of acrolein, a colorless, unsaturated aldehyde “that had characteristics of an inhalation hazard, an irritant and some flammability.”
The student threw paper towels onto the spill, shut the lab door and called 911. Not knowing the extent of the hazard, “we went in with an abundance of caution,” summoning the Yolo County Hazmat Response Team as well, Trauernicht said.
After evacuating the building as a precautionary measure, crews entered the affected room, bagged the paper towels — which had fully soaked up the liquid — and cleaned the area with soap and water, Trauernicht said. People were allowed back into separate areas of the building about an hour after the evacuation.
The student who was exposed to the spill was treated at UCD’s Student Health Center for a headache and released, but no other injuries were reported, Trauernicht said. Crews cleared the scene at about 8:30 p.m.