3 Students Hurt in Classroom Fire : Chatsworth High: A girl, 14, was in serious condition after another youth ignited rubber cement.

Three Chatsworth High School students were burned, one seriously, on Thursday after a student apparently used a cigarette lighter to ignite some rubber cement during a photography class, authorities said.

A 14-year-old girl, whose name was not released, was in serious but stable condition at the Sherman Oaks Hospital Burn Center on Thursday evening, but is expected to recover, a hospital spokeswoman said.

The ninth-grade student suffered second- and third-degree burns over 22% of her body, mostly on her back and legs, authorities said.

Also, a 15-year-old boy suffered first- and second-degree burns and a 17-year-old girl had first-degree burns on her hands, said Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Bob Collis.

Both were treated and released Thursday afternoon from West Valley Hospital and Health Center, a hospital spokeswoman said.

The accident disrupted the schoolday, and many students did not return to class afterward.

Chatsworth High senior Andrea Lunkusky, 17, who takes the photography class earlier in the day, said she was talking on the telephone near the photo lab when students began running out of the building.

“I saw the administrators and asked ‘What happened?’ and they said, ‘A kid is on fire,’ ” Andrea said.

The accident occurred about 1:05 p.m. during fifth period when a student used a cigarette lighter to ignite a dauber used to apply rubber cement to the back of photographs, authorities said.

The boy waved the applicator in the air, attempting either to extinguish the flames or to frighten his classmates, Collis said. But pieces of the applicator fell off and the other students were burned, he said.

“The dauber was on fire and he was waving it around,” Collis said. “I don’t know if it was an accident or what.”

Students in the photo lab and eight to 10 other classrooms were evacuated, while teachers used fire extinguishers to put out the blaze from the rubber cement container, Los Angeles Unified School District spokesman Shel Erlich said.

The photography teacher was in the classroom at the time, Erlich said, although he may have been in the darkroom.

There was no significant damage to the photo lab where the accident occurred, school and fire officials said.

“It’s mostly just cleanup work,” said Erlich.

School officials said the LAUSD police and Fire Department arson investigators were investigating the incident, but it was unclear Thursday whether the boy will be charged with any crime.

“There are toxic chemicals in there and one guy was stupid enough to play with a lighter in a photo lab,” said Nikki Hanopulus, 17. “It smelled like burnt hair.”