A small fire broke out on Tuesday, Nov. 4, in room S101 of the Aliso Niguel High School’s science building. Prompted the fire alarm to activate but caused no property damage or injuries. The incident occurred during a lab experiment in which the students were heating up different substances to determine whether they were ionic or covalent compounds.
The teacher Ms. Iftikhar, who teaches both chemistry and conceptual physics, mentions that she was assisting students at one of the lab stations by answering questions when she was alerted of the fire.
Students had been using hot plates to test the different melting points of the three different substances, to find out if they were either ionic or covalent. The experiment required the students to observe the amount of time it took for the substances to melt.
According to Ms. Iftikhar, one of the substances is sugar, a polar covalent compound that melts slowly.
Ms. Iftikhar states, “Usually because it takes a long time for the polar covalent compounds to melt, people think it is not melting. They heat up the plate more, and they put the hot plate a little too hot.”
In this case, the student increased the temperature of the hot plate too much, causing the sugar on the hot plate to ignite and start a tiny fire. The students immediately stepped back and alerted Ms. Iftikhar who used the fire blanket to put out the flame in under a minute before the fire could spread and cause serious damage.
Ms. Zhou says, “Everything happened in just the right sequence for the alarm to go off. The fire was smothered quickly, but the moment the blanket went over it, the smoke rose fast enough to trigger the detectors almost immediately. It was a small incident, but a good reminder that hot plates can become dangerous when they’re set too high. Students need to pay close attention to their heat levels and stay aware of how quickly things can escalate in a lab environment.”
Although the fire was small and was able to be quickly extinguished, the smoke triggered the science buildings fire alarm.
No equipment or property damage occurred, and the lab station where the fire happened is still intact and working. Ms. Iftikhar plans to emphasize the importance of reminding her students to not increase the heat too high and to maintain proper heat settings.
Ms. Iftikhar also mentions the importance of students alerting their teachers of any lab issue rather than attempting to fix the issue themselves.
“If someone tried to get water and throw it, that would not be great. The electrical outlets are nearby, and they could electrocute themselves,” says Ms. Iftikhar
