Update:
A strange odor caused a scare in Charlottesville Thursday afternoon. Firefighters had to evacuate a building inside the Fontaine Research Park for several hours.
Shortly before 1 p.m. Thursday, a pair of batteries overheated and exploded in the basement. That sent battery acid spilling onto the floor.
A Charlottesville hazmat crew was on scene cleaning up the spill. No one was injured.
"You obviously don't want to be in the area when the battery acid is dispersed. It's a caustic agent. It's an acidic, so it can burn you," said Chief Charles Werner with the Charlottesville Fire Department.
Those batteries were a part of the building's backup electricity system. The explosion caused minimal damage. After clean up, hazmat crews remained on scene to ventilate the building before allowing workers back in.
Update:
University of Virginia Assistant Vice President for Public Affairs Carol Wood has confirmed there was an explosion in the basement of UVA's Snyder Translational Research Building in the Fontaine Research Park. The Albemarle County Fire Department is looking into what exactly exploded and what caused that explosion.
The building has been evacuated and no injuries have been reported.
Albemarle County Fire and Hazmat crews are responding to what is initially being called an explosion and gas leak on Ray C. Hunt Drive in the Fontaine Research Park in Albemarle County.
People have been evacuated from the Fontaine Research Park building and NBC29 is told that "hazardous fumes" may be from a gas leak in the basement.
There are no reports of injuries.
NBC29 has two crews on the way to the scene count on us to bring you more information as it becomes available.
