Crime & Safety
Small Mercury Spill at UMd. Prompts Fire, Police Response
No injuries resulted from the mercury, which was caused by a broken thermometer.
Update, 10:03 a.m.: According to campus police spokesman Sgt. Ken Leonard, the spill was caused after a student working in the Bioscience Research Building on Field House Drive dropped a mercury-filled thermometer.
Leonard said that the student was the only person present at the time of the incident, and that the spill was contained to the room in which it happened.
The fire department cordoned off a section of the building, but did not evacuate it. A hazmat team is in the process of clearing the area.
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Original story, 8:40 a.m.: A broken lab thermometer at the University of Maryland prompted a response from the county fire department, said fire/EMS spokesman Mark Brady.
The spill occurred on Field House Drive around 8:40 a.m. Fire personnel were able to clean up the spilled mercury within minutes of arriving, Brady said.
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No injuries were reported, and firefighters were in the process of clearing the scene by 9 a.m.
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