Briefly in education

A fire that blazed through two chemistry labs at UC Irvine in July

resulted in as much as $3.5 million in damage, officials said.

The fire, on July 23 in Frederick Reines Hall, will cost $1 million in

damage, including cleanup costs, $1 million toreplace laboratory and

research equipment and an estimated $1.2 million to $1.5 million to

rebuild the two labs, which will be ready for use by next spring.

Reines Hall is one of the two major research buildings in the School

of Physical Sciences, housing laboratories, offices and research

facilities for the chemistry, physics and astronomy departments.