4 students hurt, 1 seriously, in Denver lab fire

[Buster's Uncle]

4 students hurt, 1 seriously, in Denver lab fire
Associated Press
By DAN ELLIOTT  3 hours ago



DENVER (AP) — Four students were burned and one suffered serious injuries Monday after a fire erupted in a Denver high school chemistry laboratory while the teacher was conducting a demonstration with methanol, officials said.

Three students were treated and released from hospitals, and the fourth was transferred to another facility because of the extent of the student's injuries, said Lindsay Neil, a spokeswoman for the Science, Math and Arts Academy charter school.

Neil said she did not have details on that student's injuries or condition. Denver Fire Department spokesman Mark Watson said earlier that one youth had serious injuries.

The teacher, Daniel Powell, suffered minor injuries to his hands and declined medical treatment, Neil said. He was put on paid administrative leave, and the school has suspended lab experiments that involve chemicals or flammable materials.

It was the second time this month that a fire linked to methanol in a science demonstration caused injuries. Thirteen people, many of them children, were hurt in a flash fire at a Reno, Nevada, museum on Sept. 3. An employee applied chemicals in the wrong order in a demonstration simulating a tornado, officials said.

The U.S. Chemical Safety Board, a federal agency that investigates chemical accidents, issued a warning Monday against using methanol in laboratory and school demonstrations, citing the Nevada fire. It wasn't clear if the warning was issued before the Denver fire, which was reported shortly before 8 a.m.

Two inspectors with the board were on their way to the school, spokeswoman Hillary Cohen said.

No students were handling materials when the fire broke out during a chemistry class that included 10th- and 11th-graders, Neil said.

Asked about the purpose of the demonstration, she said, "We're currently in the process of working with the teacher to understand that as well."

The teacher had conducted the same demonstration several times over the previous couple of days, Neil said. The teacher's employment status would be reviewed after investigations by the Fire Department and Denver Public Schools, she said.

The school, known as the SMART Academy, is part of the Strive Preparatory School network that operates in the Denver system. Neil said it was Powell's first year teaching in the network.

Student David Mathis said he was in the room and saw the fire climb to the ceiling and extend toward the back wall, where the students who were injured were sitting.

"We were all just chaotic," he told KMGH-TV. "We were trying to figure out what just happened. We just saw fire everywhere in the room, too, and we were just trying to put it out and help the students."

The fire appeared to have burned itself out and didn't spread beyond the lab, said Watson, the fire department spokesman. It set off school alarms, prompting an evacuation, but students later returned to classes.


http://news.yahoo.com/4-students-hurt-least-1-seriously-lab-fire-154633974.html

[Buster's Uncle]

Agency urges science demo changes after Reno fire
Associated Press
By MICHELLE RINDELS  4 hours ago



LAS VEGAS (AP) — A federal agency on Monday urged museums and schools to stop using methanol and other flammable chemicals in their fire-based science demonstrations in light of a flash fire that injured 13 people, most of them children, at a Reno museum earlier this month.

The U.S. Chemical Safety Board's recommendation Monday cited the Sept. 3 blaze at the Terry Lee Wells Nevada Discovery Museum, and it came on the same day an experiment involving methanol burned four students in a Denver high school chemistry lab.

School officials said a teacher was using methanol in a demonstration and that no students were handling the materials. Three students were treated and released at the hospital, and a fourth suffered serious injuries. Two inspectors with the board were on their way to the Denver school, spokeswoman Hillary Cohen said.

The Reno accident, which happened when an employee tried to create a green-flamed "fire tornado," was one of a string of recent incidents tied to teachers' attempts to mix methanol with other chemicals to create colorful flames.

"The point is to get kids excited about science," said Daniel Horowitz, managing director of the Chemical Safety Board. "And the worst way to do that is to have an accident."

Nevada investigators said the three- to five-second blaze at the museum erupted after the presenter grabbed a 1-gallon jug of alcohol and poured it on a cotton ball that had been dusted with boric acid and partially ignited. The alcohol is supposed to be applied before the boric acid, then ignited and spun around on a Lazy Susan to create a miniature, green-flamed tornado.

"It was a simple oversight by the presenter," Reno Fire Chief Michael Hernandez said.

Nine people were taken to the hospital, including one child who stayed overnight. The museum has suspended the demonstration and placed the employee on leave. Fire officials have scheduled a safety consultation with personnel this week to review safety risks at the museum, Hernandez said.

The accident happened just months after the board posted a safety video on YouTube warning about the dangers of "rainbow experiments." The video told the story of Calais Weber, who suffered severe burns on nearly half her body when a 2006 demonstration at her Ohio boarding school exploded.

She and another victim settled a lawsuit with the school for nearly $19 million.

Because methanol can ignite in the air at a relatively low temperature, using it in classrooms or labs with ignition sources "creates an unacceptable risk of flash fire," especially when large containers of flammable substances are nearby, the board said.

Representatives from the methanol industry concur.

"Like gasoline, methanol is a toxic and flammable chemical and should only be handled in appropriate settings, and that would certainly not include museums and classrooms," said Greg Dolan, CEO of the Methanol Institute.

Teachers can use other methods for showing the color-change phenomenon, such as using wooden sticks soaked in chemical salts. In Denver, school officials were working to determine the purpose of the demonstration using methanol, saying the teacher had conducted it several times over the previous couple of days.

Methanol is popular in chemistry classes because "it's an interesting fire. It burns very quickly," according to Jeff Orlinsky, chair of the science department at Warren High School in Downey, California.

But he said his school hasn't used it in probably 15 years amid safety concerns.

"It was done as an 'ooh, aah' demonstration," he said. "But there are other ways to get students' attention that are safer."


http://news.yahoo.com/agency-urges-science-demo-changes-reno-fire-182256763.html