UPDATE: Samford science building cleared following chemical spill, normal operations resumed

UPDATE: Propst Hall has been cleared and normal operations resumed Friday around 6:30 p.m. Samford University's office of public safety is continuing to investigate the incident.

Samford University had to close several of its buildings Friday because of a hazardous materials incident.

The Homewood Fire Department evacuated Propst Hall, the Reid Chapel complex and Brooks Hall Friday morning after a chemical spill and vandilism was discovered in Propst Hall. Executive Vice President Buck Brock reported in an email to students and faculty Friday afternoon that all that were present are safe and there were no injuries.

Early Friday morning, a forced entry into the chemical storage area of the building caused a spill of chemicals, and the university moved forward with its hazardous materials protocol.

Propst Hall, a building predominantly used for science courses and where the incident originated, remained evacuated and closed Friday afternoon, but the road the passes the building remains open.

Director of University Communications Philip Poole said an approved HAZMAT team is on campus, and will continue to evaluate the area of the spill. The team is also working to retrieve personal items of students and faculty from the bulding.

Poole said the spill was confined to a “fairly contained” area in the building, but that the team will have to ventilate the entire building and performa a full check before anyone is allowed back in.

“The process is going to continue for a while yet,” Poole said, and said that it could be several hours or more before they know anything.

Poole also said that the university’s public safety department would be conducting a full investigation into the forced entry and vandalism to try to identify those responsible.

Buck thanked Samford staff, the Homewood fire and police departments, staff from the HAZMAT company and others who assisted in handling the evacuation and clean-up in an email to the student body.

"We appreciate the cooperation of students impacted by the evacuations and the adjustments we all had to make to our schedule today," Buck wrote. "Everyone pulled together and demonstrated the resiliency of the Samford community."