Due to a short-circuit in the MRI console of a Freiburg hospital (August 2001), heavy smoke penetrated
into the adjacent rooms. Unfortunately the well-trained and competent staff was asked to leave the area,
and so nobody knew that in spite of turning off all power supply the magnet was still energized. During
a check-up round a fireman with full breathing equipment was drawn into the bore where he got stuck. Only
after quenching the magnet could he be saved, suffering serious injuries. (See "Brandschutz" Deutsche
Feuerwehr-Zeitung 3/2002 p. 281 ff.) As a consequence the fire department told us to establish a fixed
stoppage around all magnets greater than 10 Tesla at the campus.
Content Courtesy of Dr. Johannes Gottfried Zimmermann, Goethe-Universität Frankfurt, Institut für Organische Chemie