Champaign, IL- A chemical spill and fire forced about 25 workers out of a University of Illinois power plant early Monday morning.
Sodium Hydroxide spilled at the Abbott Plant on campus around 6:30 a.m. The chemical leaked from the first floor into some electrical equipment in the basement, starting the fire.
Firefighters were able to put out the fire within minutes and a haz-mat crew came to clean up the chemicals.
A U of I spokeswoman says that Sodium Hydroxide is used to treat the waste coming out of the plant to make it less acidic and to make the ph more neutral.
No one was hurt, and workers were able to get back into the building before 9 a.m.
