Dozens of people were evacuated after a small blaze broke out in an area under construction at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles’ main campus in East Hollywood Monday morning, officials said.
Firefighters were called to the scene at 4650 W. Sunset Blvd. about 11:20 a.m. as the “pesky fire” in a basement area was sending smoke into other levels of the facility, the L.A. Fire Department said in an alert.
The flames originated in the Mary Duque Building, to the northeast of the hospital’s main entrance, in an area that doesn’t serve patients, said Lorenzo Benet, director of media relations at the hospital.
The fire, smoldering in the walls of an underground area, sent smoke across three floors. Though LAFD said smoke went up to the ground level from two floors below, Benet described the floors affected as the basement, ground level and first floor.