Hazmat crews respond to Harvard Medical School after acid spills in 10th-floor lab

By Travis Andersen, Globe Staff

A Harvard Medical School building was evacuated this afternoon after chemicals spilled on the 10th floor, the Boston Fire Department said.

Steve MacDonald, a Fire Department spokesman, said three two-liter bottles containing acetic and hydrochloric acid broke and the substances spilled about 3 p.m. inside a lab at the building at 77 Avenue Louis Pasteur in Boston.

MacDonald said the spill was contained to the 10th floor, and no one was injured. A doctor who was in the area of the spill was wearing the proper protective gear and followed procedure for self-decontamination, MacDonald said.

She was allowed to go home after paramedics examined her at the scene, he said. There were no injuries.

MacDonald said at the scene at about 5 p.m. that a hazardous materials cleanup team was en route and it was not clear when the building would reopen.

“My experiment’s ruined,” said Russell Griffin, 28, a research technician who was working on the 6th floor when the spill occurred.

MacDonald said both acetic and hydrochloric acids are irritants and can cause burns, and that acetic acid is flammable.