Fire in Lab

Our lab was on fire this afternoon right after I started A-addition experiment around 2 pm.

I smelled something cooking/burning while I transferred Roche HPPP clean up PCR samples from 1.5 mL eppendorf tube to 200 uL PCR tubes around 2:05 pm. Then I heard somebody using fire extinguish to put off the fire. The smell became worse and I decided to take a look what's going on.

Wa! The laminar flow hood was emitting heavy white smoke from its top part, i.e. the filter part. Very thick smoke. School policemen came and everybody went out to lobby/hall around 2:10 pm. Then I heard the fire alarm was ringing from outside the building. I did not hear anything inside the lab. Hmm, this is very strange.

Firemen came in 5-10 minutes. They went inside to check the situation. More firemen with mask came around 2:35 pm and started to broadcast and evacuate the building. I am wondering why we couldn't hear the fire alarm inside the building and why they evacuate people so late? Maybe because too many false alarm?

I hope my A-addition experiment is OK. It supposes to run 20 minutes at 37 oC, then move to ice box for the ligation I intend to do today, and store at -20 oC after that. I guess it has to stay at room temperature for long now. I hope my pGEM-T EZ buffer is OK. I left it in ice box because I plan to do ligation this afternoon. I hope the PCR samples mixed with loading dye which are ready to run gel are OK because I left them on bench at room temperature.

It is 3:45 pm. They said the hood is still burning and we are not allowed to get in. The ice should be melting and I am afraid most samples and reagents in the ice box are exposed to room temperature now. My samples .....

I finally got in at 4:45 pm to put all my samples in freezer.

March 25: My lab still smell really bad. The smell makes many people headache. The detail story about this is:

The lab research assistant accidentally put a burning forceps into EtOH bottle (ps. for tissue culture work, we put forceps in EtOH, take it out and burn it with burner to sterilize the surface). Then fire burst out from the bottle, she got panic and pushed the bottle away, the bottle felt and spread EtOH everywhere in the hood, then the filter of the hood was on fire.

I heard that it will cost 10,000 AUD to fix it. Woop!