By KATIE BYARD
Akron Beacon Journal (Ohio)
A flash fire that seriously burned three people at Hudson’s Western Reserve Academy was caused by a concentration of methanol vapors near an ignition source.
Hudson Fire Chief Bob Carter said at a news conference this afternoon that the methanol was used in a demonstration to show students the characteristic colors of various chemical salts when burned.
Chemistry teacher Julie Pratt had placed the salts and methanol into seven evaporating dishes on her laboratory table at the front of the classroom for the Jan. 23 demonstration. After most if not all of the dishes were ignited, one or more students said the flame in one of the dishes was diminishing; then Pratt took the bottle and began to add more methanol to it.
Carter said that as Pratt began to tip the bottle toward the dish, vapor flowed from the bottle and ignited with a ``whoosh,’' described by some as a ``fireball.’'
Carter said there was evidence that liquid methanol splashed out of the bottle at the time of the ignition. After the flash fire, various items, including students’ clothing, continued to burn. Students and staff of the academy acted promptly, Carter said, to extinguish the fires and provide first aid to the students.
The fire at the private school injured six students, the teacher and her son.