The Fredericton Fire Department responded to a confined explosion in UNB’s Enterprise Building #1 in Garland Court this morning at 9:43 a.m. The building was evacuated and two were taken to the hospital with minor injuries.
“There was a report of an explosion in a lab and we believe it’s a small glass vessel,” said David McKinley, assistant deputy fire chief.
He could not confirm the nature of the explosive material, but some speculate it was a chemical explosion. The two taken to the hospital were research centre staff members, not students.
“We know that this building is working on things in the pulp and paper industry, so we’re talking about fairly non-volatile chemicals.”
The explosion was confined to the Limerick Pulp and Paper Research Centre on the second floor of the building. The building has been cleared and now firefighters are in “clean-up mode”. McKinley said there’s no further danger and HazMat was not required.
“The building has been ventilated. It’s just a matter of getting things cleared out now,” he said.
John Sijs was working in the building at the time of the explosion. While he didn’t hear the explosion itself, he did hear screaming. He saw two people taken away by ambulance.
“I did hear there’s lots of blood,” said Sijs.
He and a group of workers were waiting behind the police tape after they had been evacuated. Emergency personnel began showing up shortly after.
McKinley said accidents like this are not very common. The fire department relies on UNB staff to help them learn the nature of the chemicals or materials they could face in the building. There’s still little information about the cause of the explosion, but McKinley said once the fire crews are out, fire investigators will go through and check out the situation.
“It will be a complete scientific evaluation of everything that’s happened,” he said.
McKinley isn’t sure yet when the building will be re-opened, but it will stay closed for the rest of the day.
Correction: A previous version of this story stated the explosion occurred in Enterprise Building #2. In fact, the explosion occurred in Enterprise Building #1. We apologize for the error.
