USC Village store space catches fire


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This was the second fire in a week that forced students to evacuate from Building #9 in USC Village. (Josh Dunst/Daily Trojan)

Students and employees at USC Village were asked to evacuate Building #9 after a small fire broke out in an unfinished unit near Trader Joe’s Tuesday night.

The Los Angeles Fire Department received a call at 8:31 p.m. The fire was extinguished 12 minutes later.

Department of Public Safety Chief John Thomas said the fire was caused by open construction material in a wheelbarrow. LAFD said it is investigating what caused the material to ignite.

“We don’t believe that there has been any arson or anything like that,” Thomas said. “It probably was just materials that should have been better contained.”  

Los Angeles Police Department Sergeant Rodney Peacock said firefighters had to force entry into the building because of  a padlock on the door.

“I saw flames through the door and then I saw the firefighters chainsawing the door down,” said freshman Linda Guite, who was returning to her dorm from CAVA. “I thought it was a drill at first, but then I saw the actual flames.”

Trader Joe’s and Target were evacuated, along with the Cowlings and Ilium residential colleges.

Sophomore Greg Pizzurro, who was one of the first to spot the fire, said he reported it to a DPS officer after seeing flames through the windows of the Workshop Salon + Boutique unit, which is currently under construction.

“There was brown paper on the windows, so you couldn’t actually see into it,” Pizzurro said. “I looked through the cracks and there was clearly a fire.”

Thomas said LAFD put out the fire immediately after arriving on the scene.

“But, out of an abundance of caution … and the possibility that students could be impacted by smoke inhalation, they evacuated the building,” Thomas said.

Residents were allowed to re-enter shortly after the smoke was blown out of the building.

Following reports that students waited over 45 minutes to individually scan their fingerprints after an evacuation last week, evacuated students were readmitted to the building last night by showing their USC IDs, Cowlings and Ilium residents said.