Cigarette to blame for fire at site of future biolab
Boston Herald
January 6, 2008
By Benjamin Bell
Careless action apparently is to blame for a brief scare in the South End yesterday after a fire broke out at a site that will eventually be home to the most deadly viruses in the world, including Ebola, anthrax and the plague.
“ It looks like an incorrectly disposed cigarette was responsible for the fire,” said Boston Fire Department spokesman Steve MacDonald. There are no dangerous substances in the building, which is about 75 percent complete, a Boston University spokesman said.
Boston Police and Fire departments responded quickly and in strong numbers to the construction site of the unfinished and highly controversial Boston University National Emerging Infectious Diseases Lab after a report of a fire on the building’s fifth floor at 620 Albany St.
According to MacDonald, the Fire Department arrived at the scene and quickly extinguished the fire, which was limited to a waste-disposal container. “The situation was quickly resolved and there were no injuries,” BU spokesperson David Goldberg said.
The construction of the building has garnered a substantial amount of controversy since it will be one of the only Biosafety Level 4 labs in the United States and is in a densely populated area.
The building is scheduled to be finished this year.