A student, working on her degree, was preparing to inoculate some experimental media with a fungus as part of her research. The student had set up her petri plates and lit a small alcohol burner, which was used to sterilize her instruments between inoculations. As the student began working in the laminar flow hood, the student heard a "crackling" noise. Shortly after hearing the noise, the student saw that the glass body of the alcohol burner had cracked and that the ethanol fuel was leaking out. The ethanol caught fire and a piece of glass about 1.5 square inches in size fell off of the alcohol burner spilling approximately half of the ethanol. As the flame flashed up, the student became alarmed, turned off the fan on the laminar flow hood, stepped back and asked a faculty member for assistance. The faculty member directed his class to leave the room and asked one of the students to bring him the fire extinguisher. The faculty member then fired a short blast from the extinguisher into the hood and extinguished the fire.

The student, somewhat shaken by the experience, reported the incident immediately. After calming down, the student and two faculty members returned to evaluate the damage to the laminar flow hood. The flames had been contained in an area of about 1 square foot on the stainless steel surface of the hood. The interior of the hood is completely lined with stainless steel. Plastic petri plates immediately next to the flames were not scorched or melted. There was no additional damage to any equipment or supplies. The student was not injured in any way. The student and faculty members discussed safety procedures and then cleaned up the hood resuming work on the experiment.

The alcohol burner was a relatively new piece of equipment which had not been used frequently prior to this incident. The burner is a type sold by VWR Scientific with an angular shape. The glass body is separated from the wick and flame by a metal sleeve about 3 cm long. The bottom of the burner has "Taiwan" in relief letters but no indication of the glass type. All other burners that have previously been used are round and have an indication that they are constructed of borosilicate glass. The faculty members are in the process of notifying others of this incident. The alcohol burners of this type are being removed from labs and returned.