Harvard laboratory evacuated while the BRA approves a new Harvard laboratory

It is the height of irony that while many Allston neighbors attended a BRA hearing yesterday to express concerns about Harvard's proposal for a huge laboratory in our neighborhood, a Harvard lab was being evacuated because of a leak of explosive hydrogen gas. Hydrogen leak forces evacuation of lab - The Boston Globe A hydrogen leak forced the evacuation of a building at the Harvard School of Public Health and shut down part of Huntington Avenue during evening rush hour yesterday. No one was injured as a result of the leak, which occurred just after 4 p.m. in a second-floor laboratory at 665 Huntington Ave., fire officials said. Crews entering the building found high readings of the flammable gas, officials said. At least one woman was in the laboratory at the time of the leak, which may have been caused by a faulty valve, said Deputy Fire Chief Robert Dunderdale. Traffic was backed up on Huntington Avenue and on many adjacent streets as crews worked to vent the building, which was expected to be open today.

Hydrogen, shown here burning the famous explosion of the Hindenburg zeppelin, leaked to dangerous levels in a Harvard lab yesterday