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In Jan 2002 a fire
destroyed substantial physical property and years of genetic research at
the University of California at Santa Cruz. Two labs belonging to
the Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology Department were largely
destroyed and substantial damage was done to many other offices and
rooms in the building.
There were no fire suppression sprinklers in the building (not required at the time of building), but the incident provided some fairly dramatic evidence about the use of flammable and combustible storage cabinets to protect chemicals from becoming fuel for a fire too quickly. These photos were taken in one of the destroyed labs immediately after that fire. It appears that in spite of substantial contact on the outside of the cabinet with heat and flames, containers of flammable liquids inside were intact. The 4L container shown says "Xylenes" if you're able to view it closely enough. Cabinets do not protect flammables for a LONG period of time in a fire -- they simply postpone the heating up and rupture of the glass, plastic, and metal containers inside of them for a short period of time. But it's a critical period of time during which it is hoped that fire alarms (activated by people, or by smoke detectors or sprinkler system flow detectors) have started the firefighters racing to the scene. |
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