A pediatric dentist’s office and an orthodontist’s office in North Berkeley were badly damaged by a fire that broke out around 8 p.m. Monday, according to a staffer at the practice.
Berkeley Fire Department received multiple calls for flames seen in a structure at 906 Ensenada Ave. (at Solano). at 7:52 p.m., Deputy Fire Chief Keith May told Berkeleyside. There was an active fire on the first and second floor of the building, and it was extinguished within 20 minutes, he said. There were no injuries. As of Monday, the cause was still under investigation and there was no official assessment of the damages. Berkeleyside posted about the fire on Facebook and Twitter while the incident was ongoing.
“It was devastating,” said Mahi Amerino, the practice administrator for Aloha Pediatric Dentistry, whose office was badly damaged in the fire. “We’ll probably be closed for a couple of months.”
The practice has other offices, one in Orinda and one on Telegraph Avenue. Aloha will be able to accommodate patients in the other offices, Amerino said. The North Berkeley location has been a popular destination for local families for years.
“Generations of kids have visited these two offices for healthy and beautiful smiles, including all three of mine,” wrote Berkeley City Councilwoman Sophie Hahn, who represents the neighborhood, in an email to constituents Tuesday. “I am heartbroken to see the devastation, but grateful that everyone, including our firefighters, is safe.”
A cleaning crew had just finished working on the Aloha office and had gone upstairs to clean Berkeley Orthodontics, said Amerino. One crew member heard the fire alarm and when he opened the practice’s front door he saw flames and smoke, she said. The crew escaped the flames without injury.
