A puff of hydrogen gas released during the installation of new equipment in Frick Laboratory yesterday caused an hour-long evacuation of the building.
University spokeswoman Cass Cliatt '96 said that hydrogen was released while workers were connecting a cylinder of the gas to the distribution system of a new chromatograph for room 159 in the laboratory.
The gas triggered a monitor that notified Public Safety of the potential leak. Officers arrived on the scene at 4:10 p.m., pulled the fire alarm in the building and evacuated about 80 people.
Hydrogen gas is extremely flammable and, according to Cliatt, all laboratories on campus "have various monitors depending on the risks present."
A gas chromatograph is used to separate and identify individual chemicals from a mixed sample by running them through a column filled with a gas like hydrogen, helium or nitrogen.
Though the risk that caused yesterday's evacuation turned out to be minimal, Cliatt said that Public Safety officers initially wanted to determine whether the hydrogen release was small and contained or a continuous leak that posed a danger to the building. They contacted the Princeton Fire Department, who arrived behind the lab on William Street with equipment to detect hydrogen.
"The Fire Department had equipment to monitor hydrogen, and determined that it was not a continuous leak," Cliatt said.
Meanwhile, Public Safety Officers cordoned off the sidewalks around the building, and a paramedic asked a group of students waiting outside the building if anyone felt sick, as a precaution.
At around 5:30 p.m., students and faculty who had waited outside were allowed to reenter the building after the fire department determined that there was no danger.
Students and faculty evacuated from the building were unsure at the time of what was going on, and while some walked down Washington Road for dinner on Nassau Street, others waited to go back into the lab.
"Public Safety told us there was some sort of gas leak. They came in right away to evacuate us," said Stephanie Greene, the chemistry department's program manager.
But, Cliatt said, "There was never any danger."
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