A chemistry lab spill Tuesday at Warren County Community College’s main campus forced an evacuation and haz-mat response.
The Warren County Hazardous Materials Team responded to the incident shortly after 5 p.m. in the college at 475 Route 57 West in Washington Township.
Someone carrying a 500-milliliter bottle of bromine dropped it, leading to the spill, said haz-mat team Chief Tom Nigro.
Bromine is a volatile, reddish-brown liquid that gives off suffocating vapors, is corrosive to the skin and may cause severe gastroenteritis if ingested, according to the National Center for Biotechnology Information, a division of the National Institutes of Health.
Authorities immediately evacuated about 70 people from the building, Nigro said; no one was reported injured, though EMS could be seen checking out some students outside the college.
The college reported on its Facebook page about 6 p.m. classes were canceled for the rest of the day due to a heating-ventilation and air-conditioning issue.
“We had remediated the problem by neutralizing the product itself and then a cleanup firm will be hired by the community college to come in,” Nigro said about 6:50 p.m. “As of now the school is closed until the cleanup is complete.”
The college did not immediately provide further information on its website or via social media about whether classes would be affected Wednesday. A call for comment to a college representative was not immediately returned.
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The haz-mat team was on scene about hours, and Nigro described the incident as “pretty much of a quick routine call.”
“The crews did a great job coming in and handling the product,” he said.
Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @KurtBresswein. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
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