Chemistry fire sparks questions of safety, cover-up

The cleanup of a fire on March 15 in the Science Building has sparked questions as to whether the environment at the site was safe for custodians to enter.

In addition to safety concerns, A&M-Commerce staff members have posed questions regarding a potential cover-up of the handling of the fire cleanup.

As printed in the April 1 edition of The East Texan, at approximately 11 a.m. a fire in the room 306 of the Science Building, a chemistry lab, was sparked after a scheduled power outage.

Assistant Vice President of Marketing and Communications Randy Jolly said he was not aware that a list of chemicals in the lab existed at the time of the fire. A police report released by the University Police Department, who were first on the scene after the fire, also stated there was no information on the chemicals in the room.

"During this event, Commerce Fire Department and I were unable to locate any Material Safety Data Sheet books," the report stated. "Due to not being able to locate these books, we had no idea of what chemicals we were dealing with in any of the rooms involved."

The report also stated this made handling the situation much more dangerous for all involved.

"CFD, UPD, Facilities, Safety, nor Science department personnel could find them," the report stated.

Chemistry professor Nenad KostiÄc said he was told by Commerce Fire Department Chief Brian McNevin approximately 2,000 gallons of water were dumped via the sprinkler system to put out the fire.

Jolly said he did not know what time the fire was put out.

According to Jolly, the CFD did not release the room back to the university until they were sure there was no danger of contamination.

"There would be no case where a custodial person would be asked to go in and clean up something hazardous," he said. "It's my understanding [CFD] tested it because they would not have released the room back to the university if their had been any contaminants."

McNevin said CFD is not able to test rooms for contaminants.

"We do not have the ability to do that," he said.

According to McNevin, after the fire was put out and there was no chance of other flare-ups, safety of the room was turned over to the university's Risk Management Department.

Custodians were sent to clean the room around noon on the day of the fire.

President Dan Jones spoke with Risk Management Safety Manager Derek Preas who said he did test the water and the air quality of the room, but the tests were not conducted until four-and-a-half hours after the cleanup crew had entered the room.

Preas said both tests showed the room was safe, but has no documentation of the results.

The report stated Professor of Chemistry and Dean of Graduate Studies and Research Dr. Alan Headley arrived on the scene while CFD was looking for a list of materials.

"I overheard Dr. Headley advise CFD that ‘there are not any volatile chemicals' located in the room," the report stated.

The report stated, however, several chemicals in the room were labeled as hazardous and had a combustible rating of three. The rating system goes to four, with four being the most combustible.

"In my opinion, which was agreed with by Captain William Hall of CFD, there were indeed dangerous chemicals in the room," the report stated. "The chemicals I am speaking of were located only about nine or 10 feet from the fire."

KostiÄc said custodians, who were fearful to talk about the cleanup process of the fire, approached him. He said the custodians were told they would lose their jobs if they talked to the media about the incidents involving the fire.

Several custodians were approached for an interview, but declined to comment when asked about the allegations.

An April 1 e-mail sent by Jolly to Dean of Arts and Sciences Christine Evans said she should advise those asked to be interviewed to refuse.

"There apparently have been some media requests concerning the recent fire at the Science Building where students have been approached," Jolly said in the e-mail. "Please inform department heads, professors and students to decline interviews and send all media inquiries to my attention."

Jolly said at the time of the e-mail, the university was still trying to figure out what the details of the fire were.

"I think there were some reports coming out and some confusion, so we said let's just decline interviews until we know what's going on," he said.

Next door to room 306 is a chemical storage room, which KostiÄc said no one was monitoring. Jolly said he did not know whether that claim was true.

Jones said a HAZMAT team from Industrial Hygiene and Safety Technology Inc. was called in the following day to do a follow-up test of the room.

The police report said the aftermath left a large amount of water in the building. Due to the lack of drains in the building, water traveled from the third floor to the first floor, damaging electrical equipment.

Jolly said although the fire damaged equipment in the room, it did not last long.

"It's my understanding the fire was more of a flash," he said.

Jones said an internal investigation has shown the fire was caused by a hot plate in the room, which overheated following a scheduled power outage.