MAPLE GROVE, Minn. - The Osseo School District is making changes to its teacher-led science demonstrations after four students were injured in a classroom accident several months ago.

In the 71-page report, the methanol demonstration that burned the students back in December will not be allowed pending further review. It has not been used in the classroom since the accident.

It's called the "Whoosh - Flash Bottle" demonstration where someone drops a match into a jug of methanol.

The report also calls for a more stringent approval process for science demonstrations, a detailed list of approved demonstrations, and all secondary science teachers will now have to watch videos on science safety.

Liverpool (WSYR-TV) -- A science class demonstration turned dangerous at a Liverpool middle school Thursday. Three students and a teacher ended up in the hospital with burns. Two of the students are still being treated.

“The first thing that we saw was…there were kids laying in the hallway and that is a pretty horrible sight,” said Liverpool Superintendent, Dr. Richard Johns.

By the time Johns was called to Soule Road Middle School, fire trucks and ambulances surrounded the main door. Inside an eighth grade science room, three students and a teacher were being treated for serious burns.

"The teacher told me that he'd performed this experiment dozens of times in his career and never had a problem with it, but something went wrong, horribly wrong this time,” Dr. Johns told NewsChannel 9.

The teacher was holding a jar of methanol when fumes ignited; it created a flash fire, burning the students nearby.

Rescuers found one young girl burned from the waist up. Another child's eyebrows and lashes were singed by the heat, even though she was wearing goggles.

"Her collar had obviously started on fire and it had burned her nape and the back of her back pretty significantly,” Dr. Johns continued.

16-year-old boy was taken to Straub Clinic and Hospital just before noon today following a minor explosion in a Mililani High School chemistry classroom.

A teacher was conducting an experiment with methanal when a chemical flash explosion happened in the boy's face, an Emergency Medical Service spokesman said. Paramedics took the boy to the hospital in serious condition. The incident occurred at 11:35 a.m.

REEDSBURG — A chemical fire in a Reedsburg Area High School chemistry class injured three students and a teacher Monday.
The teacher and two of the students were transported to Reedsburg Area Medical Center with minor injuries, Reedsburg Ambulance Director Josh Kowalke said.
One of the students and the teacher then were taken to the University of Wisconsin Burn Center for further treatment.
Two of the students were back in school Tuesday, Principal Rob Taylor said. The teacher is at home recovering and one student is still in Madison. Officials would not confirm the name of the students or the teacher, but there is only one Chemistry II teacher, Corinne Fish, according to the district’s website.
Taylor said the experiment that caused the fire is one that has been done “literally hundreds of times” at the school over the years.
“It’s an experiment with salt and methanol that makes different-colored flames,” Taylor said. “For some reason, this time it caused a bigger flash than usual.”
Taylor said a student’s sweater caught fire, as did the teacher’s lab coat. Several students in the class called 911 while others contacted the front office. The school’s emergency response team, including associate principal Matt Terry and assistant principal Gary Syftestad, responded immediately.
“The team performed exactly like they should have,” Taylor said. “The girl dropped and rolled and then the teacher unselfishly put out the fire on the young lady while her own arm was still on fire.”
Each science lab is equipped with an emergency shower, fire extinguisher and fire blankets, all of which were used to help the teacher and students.

(TYLER MORNING TELEGRAPH) - An East Texas man is recovering from burns to his face and body after an accidental chemical fire about 8:20 Monday night on County Road 4142.

The victim, whose name was not released, was using methanol in an attempt to rekindle a fire thought to have burned out, Smith County Sheriff's Office spokesman Lt. Tony Dana said.
"(He) had methanol in a bucket and was trying to demonstrate how to light a fire with methanol," Dana said. "He lit it (and) the fire jumped from the bucket and caught himself on fire."

CASPER, Wyo. — A Green River man was badly burned during an on-the-job explosion in Jamestown on Wednesday morning.
In a media release, Sweetwater County Sheriff Rich Haskell said witnesses at the oil field company shop in Jamestown where the mishap occurred told deputies that Larry Bingham, 48, was apparently using a cutting torch in proximity to a barrel marked “Methanol” when the explosion occurred.
Bingham ran from the shop, then drove himself to his residence in Green River, where deputies and emergency medical technicians found him.
He was taken to Memorial Hospital of Sweetwater County in Rock Springs by ambulance, then flown to the Western States Burn Center in Greeley, Colo., with second-degree burns to both legs and a possible broken arm.

Parts of the North West Coastal Highway have been closed after a chemical spill.

A truck carrying liquid methanol sustained a leaking valve north of Binnu, in the Shire of Northampton.

If methanol touches the skin it can cause poisoning.

AUSTIN, MN--After a dangerous accident early this month in a high school chemistry class, other teachers are talking safety.

Science teachers at Austin High School say most lab accidents can be prevented with basic safety equipment.

In maple grove, an explosion happened, burning students badly, when a teacher dropped a match in methanol.

But locally, the accident wouldn't happened because chemical experiments are done under a special hood, keeping fumes and fires away from students and teachers.

Science Teacher Mark Raymond says, "Demonstrations need to be done in a supervised manner in which the safety of all students and staff can be guaranteed. In this particular case there was a lapse in judgment".

Raymond says some experiments are declined locally if they are deemed unsafe and that every teacher should know the volatility of the materials they work with.

MAPLE GROVE, Minn. (WCCO) — Four students were transported to the Hennepin County Medical Center for burns after a methanol experiment blew up at Maple Grove Junior High.

All the students, ninth graders, are currently in satisfactory condition. The experiment was being conducted by their ninth grade science teacher, Mr. Matt Achor.

Authorities say Achor was performing an experiment with a flammable liquid when the accident happened. It is not clear if the students suffered chemical burns or were burned by fire.

Fifteen-year-old Dane Neuberger got the worst of it and was still being treated at HCMC Thursday afternoon.

“My face was actually on fire,” said Neuberger.

Neuberger had a front seat to the demonstration when he said his teacher lit a match. Three other students surrounded him.

“He just took a jug of menthol and dropped a match in there. That’s like the last I know,” he said.

Tuesday's explosion in New Iberia is raising concerns from doctors and chemists. Some of those chemicals involved in the explosion could cause side effects for people nearby. A few of the chemicals used at the plant include xylene, toluene and methanol. All, highly explosive chemicals. Now, residents are voicing some health complaints in the aftermath.

"It's unusual," one resident said. "I wasn't feeling the same after I left."

He complained of being light-headed and experienced some headaches. It's statements like that are common in New Iberia now, after a chemical explosion rocked some nearby homes.
Louisiana's Department of Environmental Quality says air measurements in the area are at safe levels but experts say there are some risks.

"If you around this fire and breathed in some of the smoke and fumes, you'll probably have some symptoms," Dr. Gary Guidry said.

Dr. Guidry is a pulmonologist at Lafayette General. In short, he studies lungs.
Guidry says if chemicals like xylene and methanol are airborne, it won't take much to start seeing side effects.

"Headache, nausea, vomiting, CNS (central nervous system) depression," he listed. "For toluene, they can go into pulmonary edema which is fluid building up in the lungs."

The list of possible problems doesn't just stop with people. Chemist Wilma Subra says the affected area also includes local farms and food supplies.

NEW IBERIA, La. (AP) — A fire at a southern Louisiana plant where chemicals are blended and stored for oilfield operations was being allowed to burn itself out Wednesday before investigators enter the facility to search for a cause.
Tuesday afternoon's explosion and fire at the Multi-Chem Corp. plant in New Iberia forced residents within a 1-mile radius of the area to evacuate. There were no injuries.
The evacuation remained in effect Wednesday morning. Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality staffers at the scene have identified xylene, toluene and methanol among chemicals at the site, department spokeswoman Jean Kelly said. All three can pose health risks.
However, the corporation and the DEQ said air quality measurements in the evacuation area were at safe levels as of Wednesday morning and that air monitoring was continuing.

DAQING, Heilongjiang (Xinhua) – At least nine people were killed in an explosion at a chemical plant in Lamadian Town of Daqing City in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province Wednesday night, local officials said Thursday morning.

The explosion and fire occurred at about 10:10 p.m. Wednesday at a three-storey building at Fuxin Chemical Plant located in Lamadian Town of Ranghulu District in Daqing.

Fourteen people were inside the building when the accident happened, local government said.

Nine people died on the scene while the other five fled the building.

The fire had been extinguished by firefighters, according to Xinhua's on-the-spot reporter.

Local environmental protection authority said air surrounding the plant had not gone beyond the criteria for industrial waste gas emissions and would not affect residents and the environment nearby.

According to a preliminary investigation, the fire was caused by the volatilization of a great amount of methanol gas to a level that might lead to the blast.

Eastbound Interstate 70 reopened about 8 p.m. tonight after a tanker truck rollover shut down both directions, but westbound lanes are stopped at Empire.

At 11 p.m. authorities said westbound I-70 would remain closed most of the night.

A tanker headed west and carrying methanol rolled over around 6:20 p.m. Authorities worried about an inhalation hazard shut down the highway.

Hazmat crews are on the scene to unload the tanker, according to Ted Hill, traveler information specialist with the Colorado Department of Transportation.

For now, CDOT recommends the following lengthy alternate routes: US 40 to CO 9 (Winter Park to Kremmling) or US 285 to CO 9 (Fairplay to Frisco).

Methanol, also called "wood alcohol," is a clear, flammable liquid used in a number of chemical products including fuel additive MTBE and in fuel cell technology, according to industry group the Methanol Institute.

JASPER COUNTY, Ind. (WISH) - Hazmat crews are still on the scene of an accident involving an Amtrak train and semi in Jasper County.

It happened on County Road 1200 West near the small town of Fair Oaks at 9:05 a.m. Friday.

According to Jasper County Sheriff’s Department, the semi failed to yield at the crossing and the Hoosier State Train from Indianapolis slammed into the semi’s trailer splitting it into two pieces.

The semi was carrying methanol bottles which are highly flammable. Hazmat crews were called to the scene to clean up the spillage.

ERIE, Colo. (CBS4) ― Colorado Mug Shots Several police agencies were on the scene of a meth lab in Erie on Friday working to decontaminate the scene.

The lab was found at a home at 270 Bonanza Drive just north of Highway 7, near the airport.

Hazmat teams with the Boulder Couty Drug Task Force and Mountain View Fire started their operation at the crime scene Thursday night.

At least 3 people were taken into custody.

Neighbors told CBS4 there's been strange activity at the house for years. One woman said people were coming and going at the house throughout the day and night, and often various vehicles were being pulled into the garage and having the tires taken on and off.

The Gerlach Volunteer Fire Department and the Washoe County HazMat team worked into the night to deal with a bucket of racing fuel that was left on Main Street in the remote northern Nevada town Tuesday.
The fire department evacuated an entire block of homes in a neighborhood off of the street, and residents were not allowed to return until everything was cleaned up, authorities said.
Neighbors in the area said they had flu-like symptoms, and they think the chemical was to blame, according to officials.
The chemical was determined to be methanol. Gerlach is approximately 106 miles north of Reno

Teacher Shelley Barros was showing the afternoon chemistry class at St. Marcellinus Secondary School how different chemicals burn when a nearby Bunsen burner ignited the one-liner beaker of methanol in her hand, students said.
She dropped the flask onto the work table, scattering flames onto students in the front row.
Wednesday’s classroom fire sent five Mississauga teenagers to hospital, one who remains in critical condition, and sparked a government investigation into how a routine science experiment went so horribly wrong.