ANU science experiment causes damage, evacuation

The Australian National University avoided disaster yesterday, after a failed experiment caused a blaze in the campus's main chemistry building.

The fire, which is at least the third in the Birch Building since 2005, began when an experiment went awry in a fume cupboard on the top floor about 1pm.

Plumes of smoke could be seen coming from the roof space.

Firefighters managed to prevent the fire from spreading from the third-storey laboratory where it began.

But that laboratory suffered extensive heat and smoke damage, and flames penetrated its roof.

Firefighters had feared smoke from the blaze could have been toxic, and evacuated about 120 staff and set up an exclusion zone around the scene. But they declared the smoke to be non-toxic by 3pm.

A 44-year-old man was treated by paramedics for smoke inhalation, but was given the all-clear and not taken to hospital.

The fire was extinguished by about 2.30pm.

ACT Fire and Rescue Commander Danny Brighenti said the incident could have been much worse if the fire had ignited chemicals in the building.

Firefighters had been initially hesitant to use water to extinguish the blaze, with fears that it could spread chemicals and further fuel the fire.

''The potential was there but the ANU science building, they've got a lot of safety built into their systems,'' Commander Brighenti said.

''The fire wardens and the ANU security had a very thorough and effective system that resulted in accounting for everyone and getting everyone to a safe place,'' he said.

A similar accident occurred in March last year, when a female student suffered first-degree burns to her face, hands and chest, after an explosion in the Birch Building.

In 2005, another blaze started on the top floor of the Birch Building.

ANU vice-chancellor Ian Young said the university had strict guidelines about the storage of chemicals in the building. ''There's a whole series of protocols around where chemicals are kept and how they are kept, all of those have been adhered to in the appropriate way,'' Professor Young said.