Crime & Safety

Building Evacuated After Chemical Spill at Stevens Institute

Nobody hurt, EMS on scene

A Stevens building was evacuated Monday afternoon around 4 p.m., due to a chemical spill in the basement. Nobody was hurt according to Emergency Medical personnel on site. 

Nelson Gee, a rising Junior at Stevens, was ready to take an exam in Burchard Hall, when his friend Dan van Schaik called him to say that all classes were canceled.  

"We have a lot of fire drills," the students said. Another student, who was working in one of the labs in the basement, said there was a false alarm a few days ago. 

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But, this was not a drill. 

The Hoboken Fire Department's hazmat team was present and being taped up, ready to enter the building and contain the spill. Because the building was evacuated and nobody seemed to have been injured, the team waited to go into the building. 

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Firemen can go into a contaminated area for only 15 minutes at a time, before they run out of oxygen in the tank. After they come out of the building, they have to go under the hazmat shower. 

Scott Whalen, captain of the Hoboken Volunteer Ambulance Corps, said the spill was liquid, but could not confirm the kind of chemical. Around 5:30 p.m., the hazmat team had not yet gone into the building to contain the spill. 

"With the chemicals they store in these buildings," Whalen said, "it could be anywhere from A to Z."

Whalen confirmed that nobody was hurt because of the spill. He said that some ambulances arrived at the scene earlier in the afternoon, but that all the people refused treatment. 


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