A chemical spill in Johnson Hall yesterday afternoon brought a swarm of fire trucks and a 13-person hazardous materials unit to contain the incident, and prevented students from entering the building for an hour.

A person working in Laboratory 21, whose name has not been disclosed ,reported that he had spilled five milliliters of respiratory irritant hydrofluoric acid, but that he had mostly contained the leak himself. Firefighters, police and hazardous materials personnel were dispatched at 1:20 p.m. as a precaution.

During the course of a routine procedure that resulted in an unexpected reaction, “[he] got some of the acid on himself and some outside of the fume hood,” said Mike Jurus, deputy chief of operations for the Seattle Fire Department.

The incident was reported and authorities arrived in short order. The hazardous materials team entered the building and emerged about 20 minutes later at 2:15 p.m. The investigation found that the spill was adequately contained and that there was no contamination of the surrounding area.

“The lab itself is a designated hot zone,” said Captain Alan Cox of the Seattle Fire Department. “Anytime you have a potential risk like this, we dispatch the hazmat unit to be cautious. It’s a service we provide.”

Immediately after the scene was cleared, students were allowed to re-enter the building. Further investigation was handed off to a UW hazard containment team.

After a two-year renovation project, Johnson Hall was reopened in March of 2006.

[Reach reporter Jeff Tripoli at news@thedaily.washington.edu.]