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A chemical fire that caused $2,000 damage to a UC San Diego laboratory when a distilling machine malfunctioned and burst into flames was put out by water from an overhead pipe that melted from the fire’s heat, authorities reported.
Researchers were cooking the solvent tetrahydrofuran at 10:30 p.m. Thursday for an experiment when a release valve broke and a small amount of the chemical leaked out and was ignited by the cooker, a San Diego Fire Department spokesman said.
The flames were fueled further by a wooden pallet that caught fire. There were no injuries.
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