CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, LONG BEACH
D49er
The Dirtbags nearly walked off against the Sun Devils in a close game at Blair Field. For the full story, see page 8.
VOL. LXVIX, ISSUE 54 | FEBRUARY 28, 2018
AN EXPLOSIVE SITUATION
Daniel Green | Daily 49er
Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering Ted Yu is wheeled out on a stretcher after sustaining injuries during a fire. Two engineering buildings were evacuated Tuesday after a chemical reaction sparked a fire in the Engineering and Computer Sciences building.
Fire injures professor and prompts the evacuation of two buildings.
air conditioner shaft. My students started coughing. Some said they felt like vomiting, so we left the building. An alarm went off soon after the fire started, prompting students to evacuate the building. Ted Yu, assistant professor of chemical engineering, was carried out of the building on a gurney after sustaining injuries from the incident. Nicolas Amyx, a senior chemical engineering major, said Yu appeared to have gotten chemicals on his face. “It was almost like the movies when there is an explosion, but there was white powder instead of the black powder [on his face],” Amyx said. “There was a really loud ‘bang’ that kind of shook you. We looked over and there was a white fire going on with some smoke coming out [of the room].” The explosion occurred in Yu’s chemical engineering lab. T.J. Higgwe, a junior chemical engineering major, was in the room with Yu, who was working with a bucket of chemicals. According to Higgwe, Yu was
By Kat Schuster News Editor
Two engineering buildings were evacuated at Cal State Long Beach Tuesday after a chemical explosion sparked a fire, injuring a professor. The Long Beach Fire Department was dispatched at approximately 1:23 p.m. in response to the fire, which started in the Engineering and Computer Sciences Building in room 114. According to Reza Toosi, professor of mechanical engineering, the cause of the fire involved a chemical reaction to lithium. He was teaching in the classroom directly above the lab when the explosion occurred. “We thought it was an explosion, a bomb or something,” Toosi said. “Immediately we saw some kind of vapor coming from the
Luke Ramirez | Daily 49er
Smoke from the explosion and fire released through the Engineering and Computer Sciences building’s ventilation shafts.
see FIRE, page 3