Physics Lab Fire Put Out Before Causing Damage

A small chemical fire broke out at about 9 p.m. last night in the Gordon McKay physics laboratory, but firemen quickly extinguished the blaze, which caused no serious injuries or damage.

The fire began in the fume hood of a fifth-floor research lab and burned for several minutes only inches away from several cylinders of toxic gases until Sula Oguz a graduate student working in the next room, discovered it.

After failing to put out the blaze himself. Oguz called Harvard police, who notified the Cambridge fire department.

Oguz checked into Stillman Infirmary, fearing he had inhaled some of the toxic gases, but a colleague said he was "apparently okay" late last night.

William Paul. McKay Professor of Applied Physics, said after the incident "We were lucky to get [the fire] when we did." because "it would have been damned dangerous" if any of the cylinders of toxic gas had exploded.