Lab Explosion at Amgen Facility Injures 2

Two Amgen Inc. employees were transported to a hospital Wednesday afternoon after being injured in a minor explosion that occurred in one of the company's South San Francisco labs, a fire marshal confirmed.

Fire crews were dispatched to the South San Francisco biotechnology company just after the incident was reported around 3:30 p.m. at 1120 Veterans Blvd., South San Francisco Fire Marshal Luis Da Silva said.

Officials said one lab worker suffered moderate injures, while the other suffered minor injuries. Da Silva said that some cleaning solvents used to sterilize equipment caused a chemical reaction that spawned a flash fire.

The Amgen building was evacuated while crews tended to the victims and assessed the danger. Da Silva said it was determined that no chemicals were released into the atmosphere and that there was no public health concern as a result of the incident.

The explosion prompted a second-alarm response, and more than 10 fire apparatus from throughout San Mateo County arrived at the scene and police controlled traffic.

Crews cleared the scene at 9 p.m. and no firefighters were injured in the response.

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