Blame in UCI Fire Severity: No Sprinklers

An accidental buildup of flammable gas triggered the explosion and fire that destroyed two UC Irvine chemistry labs last July in a $3.5-million blaze that could have been less severe had the building been fitted with automatic sprinklers, UCI officials said Friday.

The likely culprit was a clogged distillation device, which allowed highly volatile benzene gas to escape and eventually explode inside Reines Hall on July 23, according to an outside investigative team hired by the university. The findings were released Friday.

A graduate student working in the lab suffered second-degree burns on his face, arm and leg, but recovered and received his doctoral degree in November.

While investigators commended the university’s response to the fire and found that the research building met state codes, they concluded that the blaze spread quickly because there was no fire sprinkler system.

About two-thirds of the buildings on the UCI campus lack the sprinklers, including a child-care center and two dormitories.

“It is the opinion of the investigation team that automatic sprinklers would have been beneficial in controlling the fire,” the report stated. “Sprinklers would have activated soon after the fire began, controlling the fire’s growth and subsequently limiting fire damage.”

The university’s environmental health staff is conducting a second investigation to assess the fire safety features in all UCI buildings, including fire extinguishers, smoke detectors, exit plans and sprinklers, UCI spokesman Tom Vasich said Friday.

“You can always do better, and this really gives us an opportunity to find ways to make sure our labs are safe,” Vasich said.

Vasich said the university also hopes to replace 30 chemical distillation devices similar to the one in the explosion. Newly developed distillation systems do not require that flammable chemicals be heated, which makes them safer. They cost about $5,500 each.

UCI chemistry professor William Evans, whose lab was destroyed, said he already had replaced four of the five most heavily used distillation systems before the fire.

Still, the older systems are in use at UC Irvine and in labs across the country, mostly without incident, he said.

“This was a freak accident that happened to reliable equipment and a reliable operator,” Evans said. “We’ve used that equipment for 10 years, and the student has used that equipment for four years.”

University of California spokesman Chuck McFadden said the old distillation devices on campuses are slowly being replaced as funding allows.

“Generally, those units have been fine. We haven’t had a whole series of problems with them,” McFadden said. “They are upgrading them as the opportunity and the budget present themselves.”

The UCI fire probe was led by Ken Groves of Sevorg Services, an accident-investigation firm in Rutheron, N.M.

The report determined that a buildup of pressure occurred when graduate student Cy Fujimoto was purifying benzene.

The escaping benzene exploded when it was ignited by a still undetermined source. Fujimoto’s injuries might have been less severe had he worn a protective lab coat and gloves, as required, the report concluded.

According to the report, the fire-resistant design of the building--from the noncombustible material to thick fire walls--helped contain the blaze to two laboratories.

Soon after the lab fire, UCI officials said sprinklers could prove undesirable in a building with so many chemicals that are highly reactive to water and could help fuel a blaze.

Groves’ report dismisses that argument, however, noting that sprinklers can prevent flames from reaching any kind of chemicals.

“The investigation team argues that the presence of hazardous materials, including reactive and flammable materials, makes the installation of automatic sprinklers in these facilities that much more important,” the report concluded.

It hasn’t been decided yet whether Reines Hall will be retrofitted with sprinklers.

The building opened in 1990 but was constructed under 1979 building codes, in place when the building design was approved. Orange County’s building codes required sprinklers, but UC Irvine is owned by the state and fell under its codes, which did not require sprinklers at that time.

In the report, investigators noted that the California Building Code now requires sprinklers in all new buildings with hazardous materials.