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Information Added: Wednesday, February 2, 2000 - 8:04 PM
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City Fire Marshall Jim Moody said the vapors might have been drawn out of the room before igniting if a nearby exhaust hood had been running.

"The hood takes the place of opening up a window and turning on a fan," Moody told the Battle Creek Enquirer in a story yesterday. "The hood only works if you are doing an experiment under the hood. Theoretically, using the hood could have precluded the accident."

But Moody also said it probably would not have made a difference if the hood was turned on, since the demonstration was being conducted at a desk several feet away from the hood.

One of the victims of Friday's explosion, Autumn Burton, 17, sufered burns to the head, arms and chest. She was in serious condition Tuesday at Bronson Methodist Hospital in Kalamazoo.

The teacher and three other students were treated for burns and released on Friday.

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Information Added: Saturday, January 29, 2000 - 12:24 AM
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A teacher and four students were injured Friday in an explosion during a chemistry experiment at Lakeview High School.

One of the students, a girl, suffered burns to the head, arms and chest. She was transferred to the burn unit of Bronson Hospital, where she was in critical condition Friday night (Jan. 28, 2000), a hospital spokesman said.

The three other students - two girls and a boy - were treated and released at Battle Creek Health System after receiving treatment for burns, according to hospital officials.

The teacher, Alan Kiste, also was treated at BCHS for burns and released.

The school district declined to release the names of the students citing confidentiality reasons, Superintendent Bob Spencer said.

Two other students in the chemistry room were not injured. The accident occurred at 1:23 p.m. Friday in a chemistry class for 10th, 11th, and 12th-graders. Kiste was performing an experiment with methanol and chemical salts, firefighters told the Battle Creek Enquirer.

He was pouring methanol into a petri dish with some chemical salts - a procedure that results in flames - when methanol vapors in the air caught fire, Spencer said.

"It appears he (Kiste) was pouring the methanol when it ignited, and a flash fire spread in the room,'' said Battle Creek Fire Chief Larry Hausman, who described the experiment as routine.

Kiste was standing at a desk in the front of the room and the six students were in their desks facing him when the fire occurred, spreading flames throughout the room, according to the fire department.

The fire was the second school-related methanol chemistry accident in two months in Michigan. On Nov. 23, a student at Waverly High in Delta Township was hospitalized for burns after methanol fumes ignited during a classroom experiment.

Eleven other students suffered minor burns. Spencer said school and fire officials would investigate the incident, which he called "a tragic accident.''

While the state is primarily responsible for inspecting schools for safety and fire dangers, Hausman said he believed the classroom's condition had nothing to do with the fire.

"There is nothing in an inspection that would have prevented what happened today,'' he said.