Crime & Safety
Update: UCLA Building Reopened Following Lab Fire
A small fire broke out on the fifth floor of the Center for Health Sciences Monday morning.
5:04 p.m. UPDATE: Employees were able to return to the Center for Health Sciences building as of 4 p.m., per The Daily Bruin. According to the report, no one was allowed on the fourth and fifth floors.
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3:27 p.m. UPDATE: According to The Daily Bruin, the fire is under investigation, but a UCLA spokesperson said the cause was likely related to hazardous materials.
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An LAFD official told reporters that the fire department had shut down the air system in the building as a precaution to prevent hazardous fumes.
Per The Daily Bruin, employees would be able to return to the building later in the day. But, as of about 2:30 p.m., Tiverton Drive was closed, as well as eastbound Le Conte Avenue.
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1:01 p.m. UPDATE: UCLA Campus news organization, The Daily Bruin, spoke to a supervisor for the lab where the fire broke out. According to the report, those working in the lab were "boiling water in plastic tubes" when people began smelling smoke and reported flames. The supervisor told The Daily Bruin this doesn't "normally happen with a water bath."
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12:55 p.m. UPDATE: According to a UCLA statement, the fire was confined to one room. The statement also noted that eastbound traffic on LeConte Avenue was being diverted due to emergency crew activity.
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According to the Los Angeles Fire Department, UCLA's Center for Health Sciences building was evacuated after a small fire broke out on the fifth floor Monday morning.
LAFD spokesman Matt Spence told Patch the fire was reported at 11:05 a.m. in a fifth floor lab. According to Spence, 149 firefighters were sent to the scene and the fire was under control in less than an hour.
Although there were reports of hazardous materials in the lab, no injuries or illnesses were reported to the LAFD. Spence said hazmat crews were on the scene and people would not be allowed back in the building until the team had cleared the area.
As of 12:15 p.m., a few firefighters remained on the scene to assist in the clean up.
- For updated information from the UCLA campus news organization, The Daily Bruin, click here.
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