Update: Two Injured in Chemical Fire, Explosion in South San Francisco

By Bay City News Service

Update 5:15 p.m.:

Two Amgen Inc. employees were transported to a hospital this afternoon after being injured in a minor explosion that occurred in one of the company's South San Francisco labs, a fire marshal confirmed.

Fire crews were dispatched to the South San Francisco biotechnology company just after the incident was reported around 3:30 p.m. at 1120 Veterans Blvd., South San Francisco Fire Marshal Luis Da Silva said.

Da Silva said he did not know the severity of the injuries to the lab workers, but said that some cleaning solvents used to sterilize equipment caused a chemical reaction that spawned a flash fire.

The Amgen building was evacuated while crews tended to the victims and assessed the danger. Da Silva said it was determined that no chemicals were released into the atmosphere and that there was no public health concern as a result of the incident.

The explosion prompted a second-alarm response, and more than 10 fire apparatus from throughout San Mateo County arrived at the scene and police controlled traffic.
A section of Oyster Point was closed between Gateway and Veterans boulevards. It has since been reopened, but traffic turning onto Veterans Boulevard from Oyster Point Boulevard is being detoured, Da Silva said.

"It's all winding down now, we are now going through the steps and making sure everything is OK and that there are no other issues or hazards present," he said.

Original post 4:50 p.m.:

By Laura Dudnick

An explosion and chemical fire in South San Francisco Wednesday afternoon has injured at least two people, one critically, according to a report on KTVU.com.

The blaze was reported at 3:27 p.m. at 1120 Veterans Blvd., where Amgen, a biotech company focusing on human therapeutics, has offices. 

Authorities said that two people were hurt and one person was in critical condition, KTVU reported.

Patch will update this story as more details become available.

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