300 Main Street evacuated due to unspecified chemical
The engineering annex at 300 Main Street was closed for about three hours Wednesday afternoon for a suspected chemical spill.
No one was injured in the incident, which was reported shortly after 1 p.m., according to Brick Lewis, a spokesman for the Columbia-Richland Fire Department, and a hazardous materials team wasn’t able to identify what was released.
But firefighters’ meters picked something up on their first trip in the building, and they smelled something in the air.
The building was cleared when firefighters reentered the building and found that the chemical had dissipated, Lewis said.
They also were unable pinpoint the source of the issue, Lewis said.
According to spokesman Capt. Eric Grabski of the USC Division of Law Enforcement and Safety, the issue was reported to the university’s Environmental Health and Safety department by a faculty member.
Shortly after 300 Main Street was evacuated, a group of about 200 students and faculty lingered outside, waiting to see if their classes would go on.
Others, like a Future Farmers of America group from Abbeville, were stuck, since their cars were inside the area blocked by police.