A massive power explosion on Monday at University of California, Berkley left one person hospitalized for minor burns and forced a wide evacuation on campus last week, Foxnews.com reported. Power was later restored to most of the buildings at the school, however eleven remained without power and classes there were canceled.
The explosion occurred on the north side of California Hall in the center of the campus, the spokesman, Dan Mogulof said. One of the injured was taken to a hospital, Mogulof said. The other two to three people declined medical aid, according to a statement on the school's website, Reuters also reported.
The power outage and explosion appear to stem from damage to the university's electrical system caused by vandals stealing copper wiring, Mogulof added
The blast was described by witnesses as being " a two-story fireball shooting into the air," KTVU news station reported.
"We're very fortunate that were no serious injuries," UC Berkeley spokesman Dan Mogulof said.
Fire crews also freed about 20 people stuck in dormitory elevators as a result of the outage that also led to the mandatory evacuation on campus. The power outage was reported around 4:30 p.m. Monday and led to evening classes being canceled and students told to suspend all lab activities, Mogulof said.
School authorities had reported an apparent ammonia leak in a room at Latimer Hall. It was contained almost immediately, campus officials said.
