Chemical spill closes building at AU

Auburn Fire Division’s Battalion Chief Matt Jordan said safety officials were unable to determine if sodium nitrate, a common fertilizer, was the cause of fumes that sparked an evacuation at the Alabama Crop Improvement Association building on the south end of the Auburn University campus Friday.

“There was some sodium nitrate involved, to what extent we cannot determine… Our procedure is better to be safe than sorry,” Jordan said. “What you do in these situation is make sure you’re coving your bases, seal everything off, decontaminate everybody.”

The chemicals were isolated to one area, but the entire building was evacuated as a precaution and will remain closed until a HazMat crew clears the area.

The irritant caused no injuries, but one man who remained inside the structure longer than the others had to be decontaminated, Jordan said.

“(The) irritant kind of caused their eyes to water, (it) kind of burned them as they were breathing in,” Jordan said.

Jordan said the researcher had a list of all the substances he was working with and, despite the fumes, safety officials’ equipment did not give any readings on substances found in the lab.

“There is a lot of experimenting that is done there,” Jordan said, which includes work with soils and biofuels. “They are doing research for the school of agriculture.”

Mike Clardy with the Office of Communications and Marketing said an employee called 911 after she noticed an odor in a lab area around 7:30 a.m. Friday. HazMat units from the Auburn Police Division, the Auburn Fire Division and the Opelika Fire Division responded to the scene. The building is located near the intersection of College Street and Donahue Drive.

Clardy said officials identified one chemical involved as sodium nitrate, but were unable to identify another that reacted with the sodium nitrate to create the odor.

Five or six people were in the building at the time, he said.

The entire building was evacuated and will likely remain closed the rest of the day, according to Clardy.

The Office of Risk Management and Safety will work with an outside agency to identify the other chemical and to clean up the spill. They will also investigate how the spill occurred, Clardy said.

Donahue Drive was closed for a brief period Friday morning, but by approximately 10:30 a.m., was reopened to traffic, according to Clardy.

Since there was no threat to the rest of campus, Clardy said there was no need to send out a communication through AU Daily, Today @ AU or AU Alert.

“It’s about as far removed from the core of campus as you can be and still be on campus,” he said