Crime & Safety

Two Injured in Chemical Fire, Explosion in South San Francisco

By Bay City News Service

Two Amgen Inc. employees were transported to a hospital Wednesday 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 temporarily closed between Gateway and Veterans boulevards. 

Copyright © 2014 by Bay City News, Inc. -- Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

To request removal of your name from an arrest report, submit these required items to arrestreports@patch.com.