The incident happened about 9 a.m.

, as Anna Poole, a science teacher at the public school, gave a lesson on how electrons react to different chemicals and give off different colors, according to students and school officials "CHEMISTRY LAB FIRE..." DEVELOPMENTS OF EVENTS Follow-up report to me

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There was a science experiment underway in this classroom and it went bad, said James Long, a spokesman for the Fire Department. There were students that were believed to be in the front rows of the classroom, there was a flash of the fire, and they were caught within that flash. A boy suffered severe burns on his face and neck, and a girl was burned on her hand, officials said. Both were taken to NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center. Carmen Faria, the new schools chancellor, said that the boy, whom she identified by only his first name, Alonzo, was in serious condition on Thursday afternoon at the hospital, and that the other student, identified as Julia, had been sent home. When the experiment exploded, students dived under their desks and screamed for help, students in neighboring classrooms said. But the two students sitting near the front were engulfed in flames. Students and teachers helped put the fire out, and it was no longer burning by the time firefighters arrived. Ms. Poole previously worked as a physical science teacher at the Bronx High School of Science. She won a grant in 2009 from the New York City Partnership to Advance Science. She did not return calls or emails to her at the school. Officials at the Education Department declined to elaborate on the cause of the fire, because it was still under investigation. Al Baker, Erin Banco and Susan C. Beachy contributed reporting.