Towne building chemical spill forces evacuation

The Towne building — located in the Engineering Quad — was evacuated at approximately 3:30 p.m. Thursday due to an accidental chemical spill.

The spill, which occurred in a lab on the building’s first floor, was cleaned up by Penn’s Environmental Health and Radiation Safety, according to the Division of Public Safety.

The building is now safe for occupancy, according to an email that Building Administrator Kilian Feeney sent to all Engineering students.

The Philadelphia Fire Department’s Hazmat Unit also responded. However, EHRS handled much of the response before the PFD even arrived, according to a PFD spokesperson.

The evacuation was due to a “strong chemical odor” from the spill, according to DPS. By the time PFD inspected the building, the fumes had dissipated.

Students and faculty were alerted to the evacuation by a fire alarm. However, some people failed to heed the evacuation order, according to Feeney’s email.

This is the second incident that Hazmat teams have responded to on campus in the past two weeks. The other occurred early on the morning of Feb. 8 at Vagelos Labs.

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