{"id":65383,"date":"2026-05-03T20:24:22","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T00:24:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=65383"},"modified":"2026-05-03T20:24:29","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T00:24:29","slug":"green-flames-explode-university-of-south-florida-usf-st-petersburg-marine-science-lab","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2026\/05\/03\/green-flames-explode-university-of-south-florida-usf-st-petersburg-marine-science-lab\/","title":{"rendered":"GREEN FLAMES EXPLODE University of South Florida (USF) St. Petersburg Marine Science Lab"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A major fire broke out at the <strong>University of South Florida (USF) St. Petersburg<\/strong> campus yesterday evening, Saturday, <strong>May 2, 2026<\/strong>, primarily affecting the <strong>Marine Science Laboratory (MSL)<\/strong> building.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-9-16 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"GREEN FLAMES EXPLODE University of South Florida (USF) St. Petersburg Marine Science Lab!\" width=\"563\" height=\"1000\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/CM0ar9l8AHk?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While the situation initially raised significant hazmat concerns due to the nature of the facility, university officials confirmed this morning that there is <strong>no ongoing public safety threat<\/strong> and <strong>no hazardous materials were released<\/strong> into the environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Key Details of the Incident:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>The Fire:<\/strong> The blaze was reported around <strong>5:40 PM<\/strong> during a severe lightning storm. More than <strong>60 units and 200 firefighters<\/strong> responded to the two-alarm fire.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Damage:<\/strong> USF President Moez Limayem stated that the building, a historic structure used for advanced oceanography and chemistry research, is likely a <strong>&#8220;total loss.&#8221;<\/strong> The entire roof was destroyed.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Hazmat Response:<\/strong> Hazardous materials units were on-scene to secure compressed gas cylinders and monitor chemical inventories. While the hazmat teams were deployed for safety and cleanup, authorities have cleared the area of toxic leak concerns.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Injuries:<\/strong> Thankfully, no injuries were reported, and the building was successfully evacuated.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Current Status (as of May 3, 2026):<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Campus Operations:<\/strong> Most of the St. Petersburg campus has <strong>resumed normal operations<\/strong>, including classes and business.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Closures:<\/strong> The MSL building and other facilities on <strong>Peninsula Drive<\/strong> (including the Knight Oceanographic Research Center) remain closed.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Research Impact:<\/strong> Faculty and students are currently assessing the loss of irreplaceable research materials, including sediment samples and specimens stored in deep-freeze units that may have lost power or been damaged by heat.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The cause of the fire is officially under investigation, though investigators are strongly considering a <strong>lightning strike<\/strong> as the ignition source.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A major fire broke out at the University of South Florida (USF) St. Petersburg campus yesterday evening, Saturday, May 2, 2026, primarily affecting the Marine Science Laboratory (MSL) building. While&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":65384,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"14","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvaTAud3AuY29tXC9sYWtlbGFuZGdhemV0dGUuaW5mb1wvbmV3c1wvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAyNlwvMDVcL1NjcmVlbnNob3QtMjAyNi0wNS0wM1QyMDIxMDcuMDE2LndlYnA_Zml0PTM1OSUyQzQwMCZzc2w9MSIsInR4dCI6IkdSRUVOIEZMQU1FUyBFWFBMT0RFIFVuaXZlcnNpdHkgb2YgU291dGggRmxvcmlkYSAoVVNGKSBTdC4gUGV0ZXJzYnVyZyBNYXJpbmUgU2NpZW5jZSBMYWIiLCJ0ZW1wbGF0ZSI6ImRvaXMiLCJmb250IjoiIiwiYmxvZ19pZCI6MTYzMDQwNjYxfQ.Hutvf2O5pQrsJWYCW8Zx1ICsISAGHMT8Z8XyIGHQ1p4MQ"},"version":2,"media_source":"sig","attached_media":[{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/jetpack.com\/redirect\/?source=sigenerate&query=t%3DeyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvbGFrZWxhbmRnYXpldHRlLmluZm9cL25ld3NcL3dwLWNvbnRlbnRcL3VwbG9hZHNcLzIwMjZcLzA1XC9TY3JlZW5zaG90LTIwMjYtMDUtMDNUMjAyMTA3LjAxNi53ZWJwIiwidHh0IjoiR1JFRU4gRkxBTUVTIEVYUExPREUgVW5pdmVyc2l0eSBvZiBTb3V0aCBGbG9yaWRhIChVU0YpIFN0LiBQZXRlcnNidXJnIE1hcmluZSBTY2llbmNlIExhYiIsInRlbXBsYXRlIjoiZG9pcyIsImZvbnQiOiIiLCJibG9nX2lkIjoxNjMwNDA2NjF9.Ztf6n8aAmD3jIrcR6y25RvPth8zwvwCFjIiEcwLzjmEMQ","type":"image\/jpeg"}]},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[14],"tags":[14534],"class_list":["post-65383","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-green-flames-explode-university-of-south-florida-usf-st-petersburg-marine-science-lab"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65383","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65383"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65383\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":65385,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65383\/revisions\/65385"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65384"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65383"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65383"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65383"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}