The Harrison Pharmacy School building was evacuated at about 8:45 a.m. because of a corroded canister of hydrogen chloride gas, according to the Auburn Fire Department.
A canister of hydrogen chloride, a potentially deadly gas, was found to be leaking.
"The regulator [on the canister] is stuck," said Lee Evans, dean of the School of Pharmacy. "They had planned to remove this canister this evening. When the University was notified that we had a canister that could potentially leak, they pulled in the militia."
All access points to the building were blocked off with yellow caution tape. An AU alert went out at 9:29 a.m. via a phone call and 9:40 a.m. via text message, warning students of a reported hazardous material release and cautioning them to avoid the area.
"This is really being extremely safe," Evans said. "Essentially, from a safety perspective, [the University] said we need to get it out of here now."
Safety precautions included members of the Auburn and Opelika HazMat team and Auburn Fire Department.
"They're in level-A suits in there," said an Auburn firefighter.
When sealed in one of these suits, the wearer is completely isolated from the outside atmosphere. The suits are composed of up to a dozen protective layers, as well as a sealed hood and respirator mask.
On a scale of one to 10, however, Evans said the event was only about a 0.5.
Lee Lamar, Auburn fire chief, said as far as they know, the canister was found to be leaking this morning. He didn't know if they were planning to move it or not.
"This wouldn't be standard protocol for moving it as long as it was in a good state," Lamar said. He said at 10 a.m. they were looking at one to two more hours of cleanup.
William Ravis, professor in the pharmacy school, said the canister had been "sitting up there for years." Arrangements were apparently made last night to remove the canister.
Officials are currently setting up a decontamination team.
The fire department will make a formal statement on the situation later in the day.
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