Camry terminated in PG5 car fire

Philippe Buteau | Interim News Director

A car fire on the fifth floor of Parking Garage 5 shut down SW 109 St. and University Drive for about 45 minutes Friday morning.
The front end of a black 2008 Toyota Camry was burned because of an electrical fire, according to University Police Chief Alexander Casas.
Cases said to Student Media that the fire was contained to the vehicle and that no others were burned, and neither was there structural damage to PG5.
“The sprinklers worked exceptionally well,” Casas said.
He said the sprinklers create a sort of halo that contains heat, and inhibits the ability of any fire to spread.
There are about two car fires per year, according to Casas. And there have been no arson cases since 2011, when Casas started as police chief.
The fire, which the alarm for went off at about 10:15 a.m., forced doctors from the University’s Faculty Group Practice to interrupt Catalina Granada’s ultrasound.
“We thought it was a drill,” Granada said as she and her doctors waited for the all clear.
She said they waited on the bed for about five to 10 minutes before they exited the building.
Meanwhile, Andrea Arndorfer advised the students of her two hour long legal psychology course to evacuate the building.
Jesica Levine and Carl Eguez both thought the alarm wasn’t real until they stepped outside.

Firefighters from Miami-Dade Fire Rescue preparing the hydrant to battle the blaze started by a car fire in Parking Garage 5.

“I thought it was a drill,” said Levine, senior liberal studies major,.
Eguez, a junior psychology major, thought it might have been a joke.
“When I saw the smoke I knew it was real,” Eguez said.

Alejandra Chacon, junior psychology major and another student in Arndorfer’s class said they were calm and stayed in front of PG5 for a few minutes but eventually moved away from the building.
Director of Parking & Transportation Lissette Hernandez, whose department is based in PG5, said the fire caused a slight setback but because of the response of rescue personnel, they were able to resume normal operations.
“It has delayed our services to the community, but police and fire rescue responded in no time,” Hernandez said.

An alert from the University is still pending as of 12:50 p.m.