Flames, Fumes, and Follies: The HARPS Lab Explosion

Since 2016, the Hopkins Authentic Research Programs in Science (HARPS) has given qualifying Hopkins students hands-on experience in a lab while simultaneously continuing their studies in the sciences. For almost a decade, dozens of students have been able to conduct their own experiments and research, both within and outside of Hopkins. This unique opportunity, however, was nearly extinguished. At about 3 p.m. on March 21, the second Thursday of break, the fire alarms in Malone went off. HARPS Director Priscilla Encarnação describes how she “got an alert on [her] phone and rushed to investigate.” When she entered the HARPS lab, she was met with chaos. The entire room was black and covered in ash. Thousands of dollars of equipment had been destroyed. The door was blown off its hinges, and glass littered the floor. “I just stared in shock
or a good minute,” Encarnação says. After thorough investigation, Paige Burner ’25, a stressed HARPS student, was found to be the culprit responsible for the disaster. Encarna- ção explains how she “thinks the student was sanitizing their equipment.” The process involves dipping the instruments in ethanol and lighting them on fire to kill off any bacteria. This is done inside the chemical hood. “Sometimes there can be extra ethanol, and so the kids try to flick it off. This isn’t usually a problem, but if there is a lot of extra ethanol, that fire can catch on other flammable materials in the hood,” she says. The accident resulted in a massive explosion that destroyed the HARPS lab. Encarnação is disappointed, but not completely shocked. She says she is “so upset because [the students] are not supposed to be playing with fire,” but also notes that “[the HARPS students] routinely play with ethanol, so this did not come as a complete surprise.” Other faculty in the science department were more shocked. Octavio Sotelo, the current science safety officer and a physics teacher, says, “My first reaction was disbelief because HARPS students have SHARPS minds. This was one of the craziest accident reports I have ever written.” Jennifer Stauffer, a chemistry teacher, expresses her disbelief: “It was crazier than the elevator fire of 2010 in Malone.” That fire, which included six-foot tall flames, destroyed most of the Malone elevator and required extensive repairs to the interior. Assistant Head of School John Roberts says, “I don’t think anywhere in our student handbook does it say you can’t play with ethanol. So Paige Burn- er will be in no disciplinary trouble.” He jokes that “nowhere in our handbook does it say you can’t blow up the HARPS lab.” Roberts also admits to “[playing] with ethanol and [blowing] a few things up,” when he was a student too.

Thankfully, due to the efforts of the Hopkins Fixing It Really Efficiently (FIRE) crew, the HARPS lab was fully restored by the time students returned to campus. The ethanol containers have been locked away in a stainless steel safe that only Encarnação has access to. She hopes this is enough to prevent similar incidents in the future, saying “it’s all under lock and key now!” Hopkins administrators, on the other hand, want even more security. They have contacted their lawyers about editing the student handbook to include anti-ethanol activities clauses. It seems that the HARPS lab would not have been missed, however. As Roberts said when he first heard it had been blown up, “The HARPS lab is gone? Bummer.”