Hoyt Laboratory was evacuated yesterday afternoon after a steam pipe ruptured and set off a fire alarm.
The incident, which occurred around 4:45 p.m., prompted Public Safety to temporarily remove students, faculty and staff from the laboratory. No individuals were harmed, and damage to the facility was negligible.
"When officers first arrived at the scene, they saw white clouds, and they knew that it was either steam or smoke," University spokeswoman Cass Cliatt '96 said.
As a precaution, the first responders — which included Public Safety, the Princeton First Aid and Rescue Squad, Princeton Fire Department and Princeton Borough Police — decided to clear the building.
Though the white gas at the scene was odorless, the building's safety devices sensed it nonetheless. "The fire detectors detect smoke, but they also detect moisture," Cliatt said. "In this case it was moisture that was detected."
Within an hour, the area had been cleared and people were allowed to return to the building.
The steam line in question leads to an autoclave, which uses steam to heat equipment to clean off biological residue.
Exactly one year ago, a similar incident occurred in Frick Lab — to which Hoyt is connected — when a hydrogen gas leak prompted that building to be evacuated for one hour.
The Hoyt Laboratory is used by the chemistry department and is named for Henry Hoyt '17.
— This article includes reporting by Princetonian staff writer Sam Fox Krauss.
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