Biomedical lab evacuated
Smoke emergency renews safety debate
Firefighters evacuated hundreds of people from a 10-story Boston University biomedical research building yesterday after white smoke wafted through a laboratory that houses vials of highly infectious bacteria, renewing concern about the danger of studying potentially deadly pathogens in a densely populated area.
The smoke set off alarms in the ninth-floor lab of BU's Center for Advanced Biomedical Research in the South End, where scientists keep samples of the Francisella tularensis bacterium, which causes what is commonly known as rabbit fever.
After scientists and others fled, a hazardous materials team in gray biohazard suits and green boots went inside to search for the source of the smoke. The smoke disappeared as soon as firefighters shut off electricity to the building, leading them to tentatively conclude that an electrical problem was the cause. The hazardous materials team found no contamination.
Fire Commissioner Roderick J. Fraser Jr. said the public was never in danger. "All of the safety and security precautions that the laboratory takes were taken and were still in place" when firefighters arrived, he said.
Still, the incident fueled the fears of opponents of another BU lab, under construction nearby, where researchers would work with the world's deadliest germs, including Ebola, plague, and anthrax.
The Biosafety Level-3 lab where the incident occurred stands on Albany Street roughly 100 yards from the construction site for the controversial $178 million Biosafety Level-4 lab, the first in Boston. The evacuated building is also adjacent to another BU lab where three workers were mysteriously infected by the same tularemia bacteria in 2004.
Klare Allen, a community organizer who opposes the proposed Level-4 lab, said that the incident underscored the inevitability of accidents, which opponents say could be deadly in Boston. "Stuff happens," she said. "Nobody's perfect, and people make mistakes."
Fire and BU officials, however, said the incident demonstrated that the city was well prepared to protect the public. Many of the firefighters who responded had previously toured and inspected the lab and knew their way around, said Stephen Morash, BU's manager of emergency planning and response. The tularemia bacteria, stored in a double-locked freezer, were never threatened, he said.
"Even if there was a fire, it would likely have simply destroyed the bacterium," Morash said. "It's not a very hearty organism."
John R. Murphy, a BU researcher, said the three researchers who work in the ninth-floor lab do not use flammable chemicals. They were working on the bacterium that causes rabbit fever, which is contracted through the bite of an infected tick or deer fly or by handling infected animal carcasses, especially rabbits; by eating or drinking contaminated food or water; or by inhaling airborne bacteria. Symptoms include sudden fever, chills, headache, muscle aches, joint pain, dry cough, progressive weakness, and pneumonia. In rare cases, it can be fatal.
Last September, Boston became the first major city in the United States to pass regulations allowing city officials to monitor research in labs working with potentially deadly biological agents. The city's Public Health Commission required licenses for Biosafety Level-3 and Level-4 labs, the federal government's two highest risk designations.
Boston has six other registered Level-3 labs, at Tufts University School of Medicine, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard School of Public Health, Harvard Medical School, Children's Hospital Boston, and Brigham and Women's Hospital.
Under normal circumstances, the one-alarm incident yesterday would have been minor. But the presence of a potentially dangerous pathogen transformed it into a large-scale operation.
Shortly after the lab's fire alarm sounded at 11:40 a.m., Albany Street was choked with fire trucks. Firefighters donned hazardous material suits in the middle of the street and set up a decontamination shower, though it would not be used.
People in the building were evacuated in waves. At first, only those on the ninth floor were told to leave, but the entire center was emptied when fire officials declared a Level-3 hazardous material response.
Deputy Fire Chief Robert J. Calobrisi said tests of air samples found no evidence that the air in the lab had been contaminated by chemicals or biological agents. He said the cause of the smoke was still under investigation. BU officials said the building would not reopen until after the Boston Public Health Commission ensures the safety of workers.
Last evening, Health Commission spokesman Tom Lyons said a three-person team found no dangers in the lab, though it would remain closed for several days until results of other tests come back.
"There's nothing obvious that would indicate any risk to anybody who works in the building," he said.
Despite the statements from fire and BU officials, some community activists said yesterday's incident underscored the risks of such research.
"They keep saying that everything is safe," said community activist Mel King, who has filed a lawsuit to stop construction of the Level-4 lab. "They deny the reality that they don't have any way of guaranteeing that the things they are working on will not spread."
A more in-depth environmental review of the Level-4 lab, which will look at several hypothetical worst-case scenarios, is scheduled to be completed next month. Last October, a federal judge overseeing the opponents' lawsuit against the lab ruled that construction could continue while that review is underway. The metal skeleton has been erected for the lab, to be known as the National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories.
Michael F. Flaherty, a Boston city councilor who has taken issue with the Level-4 lab in the past, said yesterday's incident helped ease some of his fears.
"It makes me feel good that, in the event that something major happened, we have great experienced professional firefighters at our disposal," he said.
Andrew Ryan and Stephen Smith of the Globe staff contributed to this report. 