The Old Main Building in UNSW’s lower campus was evacuated this afternoon due to “toxic” fumes from a battery failure, a source close to the university said.
At around 2:45 p.m. the alarm went off, instructing people inside to take their personal possessions and evacuate the building. The fire department and a hazmat team responded in about 10 minutes after the alarm sounded.
“A battery failed, which released toxic fumes. People on level one and below could smell the fumes the most,” a UNSW official told Gamamari on the condition of anonymity. They added that nobody was hurt.
“The firefighters had to safely switch off the system so that it doesn’t affect other experiments and other critical systems, which they did,” they said.
In a phone call to Gamamari, UNSW’s security team confirmed that the leak occurred in one of the labs, adding that the hazmat team assessed the situation.
People were not allowed back into the building until around 5:00 p.m., according to campus security. Classes until then were cancelled.
The university’s communications team did not immediately respond when contacted by Gamamari for comment.
“People thought this was a drill until it wasn’t. The chemical smell was strong so it’s fair that we all had to evacuate,” said Ashwin Murali, a UNSW student who was in a class on level one.
UNSW’s schools of mining, physics, and aviation are housed in the Old Main Building. Classes from other schools also occur in the building.
Neighbouring buildings were not evacuated, per the source.
UNSW’s security team said that this kind of incident is rare, occurring once a year or once every few years.