Three people taken to hospital after chemical spill at Sydney university

Three people have been taken to hospital after a chemical reaction near the University of Sydney campus. Emergency services are still on the scene.

Transcript

00:00The chemical reaction causing the fire happened right here behind me on Codrington Street

00:06just outside of the University of Sydney Sports Aquatic Centre.

00:10Around 10am a university staff member was transporting chemicals in a bucket down this

00:15public road when a reaction resulted in flash fire and fumes.

00:20When our firefighters arrived they experienced a person who had been exposed to a chemical

00:27reaction, an exothermic, a heat-releasing reaction between two chemicals that were being

00:32transported by hand down a footpath from point A to point B.

00:35And we've had two chemicals that have been mixed together and for some reason or another

00:40unintentionally there's been this reaction.

00:43The university staff member carrying the chemicals has suffered burns on his arms.

00:47Two other bystanders have also been exposed to the fumes.

00:50All three of them have been transported to the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital.

00:54Meanwhile Fire and Rescue NSW has set up this exclusion zone behind us where specialised

00:59HAZMAT crews have been working on analysing the chemicals and decontaminating the area.

01:04We are now just using our processes to go through the steps to make sure that the whole

01:09site is rendered safe and decontaminated.

01:12We've gone through the buildings and decontaminated some showers where we believe the three people

01:17were showered off, which is a good thing, they were cleaned off by themselves and people

01:21in and around it.

01:22They've been cleaned off and sent to hospital in a clean condition and they're being treated.

01:27Fire and Rescue NSW believe the compounds in question were legacy acid-based chemicals

01:33and the person carrying them may have been in the process of disposing of them.