diff --git a/include/openmc/hdf5_interface.h b/include/openmc/hdf5_interface.h
index 0fe55d170..4bcef7ede 100644
--- a/include/openmc/hdf5_interface.h
+++ b/include/openmc/hdf5_interface.h
@@ -247,11 +247,11 @@ inline void read_dataset(
 {
   // Create buffer to read data into
   auto n = dataset_typesize(obj_id, name);
-  char* buffer = new char[n];
+  std::vector<std::string::value_type> buffer(n, '\0');
 
   // Read attribute and set string
-  read_string(obj_id, name, n, buffer, indep);
-  str = std::string {buffer, n};
+  read_string(obj_id, name, n, buffer.data(), indep);
+  str = std::string { buffer.begin(), buffer.end() };
 }
 
 // array version