A blaze gutted a dentistry school at UCLA, impacting students, staff and patients. Annette Arreola reports for the NBC4 News at Noon on Tuesday, April 14, 2015.
As crews mopped up the debris from a fire at the UCLA dentistry school early Tuesday, students, staff and patients worked to find alternatives to classes and appointments as the wing was shut down until further notice.
The blaze damaged a storage room at the School of Dentistry in the 700 block of Tiverton Avenue at 1:31 a.m, the Los Angeles Fire Department said.
It took 70 firefighters more than an hour to douse the flames on the third floor of the seven-story building. There were no injuries. The cause of the blaze was under investigation.
Rohi Atassi, a post graduate student, said he had to report the bad news to his patients.
"Telling my patients our department went on fire," he said. "So we'll see when we can call you back... Hopefully, everything will be fine."
Elizabeth Wilcox, an employee, said the fire had a big impact.
"We have patient care, students, post graduates ... so everybody's affected right now," she said.
Haylee Valenzuela had an appointment Tuesday morning at the dentistry school.
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"I was waiting for five months," she said. "It's the only place they can do this for me."
Students were advised to contact their professors about the status of their classes.
