Hotter than ever, the Huey P. Long Field House caught fire Thursday afternoon.
Construction on the roof of the Field House caused a small fire around 2:00 p.m., Wednesday, according to Robert Combs, Baton Rouge Fire Department spokesman.
LSU Police Department spokesman Capt. Cory Lalonde said the fire originated on the roof of the wing of the Field House closest to the Cox Center for Student Athletes.
Combs said the fire started when construction workers used blowtorches to close the skylights on the first floor and wood from the construction caught fire.
Combs said some students and faculty were examined by EMTs on site for smoke inhalation, but no one was transferred to the hospital for further treatment.
At 3:15 p.m., Combs said the fire was under control.
Melinda Solmon, director of the School of Kinesiology, said classes will resume today.
Dawn Capizzo, social work graduate student, was in class in the Field House listening to a presentation when she began to smell smoke.
“It’s not normal for a classroom to smell like a campfire,” Capizzo said.
After smelling the smoke, she said the class began to see the fumes and then the fire alarm was heard.
Falynn Baheth, social work graduate student, said the students in her class were all calm and moving slowly.
“No one was panicking,” Baheth said.
Classrooms in the Field House were not damaged, Solmon said.