FIRE EMERGENCIES IN ORGANIC AND ADVANCED COURSES

Preview This section describes the likely nature of fires in intermediate and advanced labs and how to extinguish them. 

Calais Weber, high school student seriously burned in laboratory demonstration  

While transferring pure lithium aluminum hydride (LAH) from a plastic bag into a flask containing THF, some of the LAH spilled and burst into flame on the surface of the chemical hood. The researcher dropped the bag and then removed his lab coat in an attempt to smother the fire. The coat and LAH were then pulled out of the hood onto the floor. The LAH burned itself out and a dry chemical extinguisher was used to put out the lab coat. 

A defective shelf collapsed spilling 12 containers of hexane and leading to an explosion and fire. About 50 additional gallons of flammable liquids were in the storage area. The damage was estimated to be 200,000-300,000. 

What lessons can be learned from these incidents  

---