Haz-mat team responds to University of B.C.; patient taken to hospital

VANCOUVER – Firefighters say Vancouver’s full hazardous-materials team has responded to the University of British Columbia and one patient has been taken to hospital after an experiment likely went awry.

Capt. Brian Hutchinson of the city’s fire department says the incident happened on Thursday when a glass tube, likely a small test tube, containing a mixture of nitric acid and methanol failed.

He says none of the injuries were reported to be serious at the time, but the patient was taken by ambulance on a “routine” dispatch, which means without lights and sirens.

Hutchinson says the incident drew the city’s full hazardous-materials team, which includes 16 members from two fire halls.

He says the team has responded to the university in the past, when other chemicals or elements have been spilled.