Students were notified through a CSUN Alert on Tuesday morning that a fire had broken out on the second level of the G3 parking garage on CSUN’s campus. Campus police and the Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) responded quickly to the scene and the fire was extinguished within the hour.

According to Deputy Chief Mark Benavidez, a student reported noticing “a strange sound” emitting from her vehicle. When smoke began to appear under her hood, she called 911 at 9:02 a.m. and reached the CSUN campus police dispatch line.

“From what we understand, the vehicle that was driven on campus and parked started some sort of electrical fire within the engine compartment,” Benavidez said.

The first officer arrived at the scene five minutes after the initial report and began using police fire extinguishers to put out the flames. LAFD arrived at 9:08 a.m. to finish stamping out the blaze.

Students were stopped at a police blockade at the Bertrand Avenue parking garage entrance, waiting to see if the eruption had impacted their car. Students were later let back into the garage at approximately 9:50 a.m.

CSUN student Nikki Cortez arrived at the parking lot after taking a test on campus, ready to head to her 11:00 a.m. shift at work, only to be stopped by a campus police officer.

“I asked him if I could go in and he said that I can only go in if CSUN has contacted me,” Cortez said. “I have a missed call from CSUN, but I was taking a test, so I’m kind of freaking out.”

Cortez, who was parked on level two, waited outside the garage for 20 minutes before being able to assess the damage.

Melissa Cisillas, a child development major on campus, left class early after receiving the CSUN Alert.

“It was at the same level as my car, and I was like, ‘Oh my god, is it my car?’” said Cisilla. “So, then our professor was like, ‘If your car is there, you can go out.’”

No one was harmed in the fire, though Benavidez said there may have been possible damage to vehicles directly near the initial outbreak.

The fire comes one day after a prior CSUN Alert was sent out Monday evening informing students of a campus-wide power outage. Benavidez said a transformer went out near Lassen and Zelzah, and LADWP immediately went to work on bringing the power back.