FOUR people were exposed to sulphuric acid after batteries leaked in the basement of an Oxford University building.

Firefighters were called to the university’s Engineering and Technology Building shortly after midday on Friday because of the ‘unusual incident’.

A total of 46 batteries had started to heat up, swell and leak, with four people possibly inhaling sulphuric acid fumes.

Those affected were initially treated by firefighters and paramedics, with one man taken to hospital for further checks.

After consultation with the management on site, specialist hazardous materials officers from the fire service and the battery manufacturer, a plan to deal with the incident was agreed.

Firefighters entered the building wearing breathing apparatus with a gas monitor and thermal image camera to assess the situation.

The power supply was disconnected from the batteries, but the batteries are designed to hold their electric charge so no water could be applied to cool them down. Instead, a cooling fan was applied to the batteries and the air monitored until the building was safe and hand back to the university.

Crews left the scene at 5.15pm.

Incident commander, station manager Paul Webster, said: “This was an unusual incident as most people expect that if you apply water to something hot it will cool it down – this is not always the case, especially when electricity or chemicals are involved. I would like to thank the staff and students for their co-operation during this lengthy incident”.