A fire at the Red Hawk Parking Deck at Montclair State University left some students and staff waiting hours in the cold on Wednesday. The morning fire damaged three cars.

"Two are totaled and another suffered some paint damage, the owners have been contacted,” says university spokesperson Joseph Brennan.

The fire broke out on the third floor around 10:30 a.m. Clifton and Montclair firefighters were able to put the fire under control and no injuries were reported.

Both faculty and students have parking access to the parking deck if they purchase a permit. They were allowed back into the garage for a controlled exit just after 3 p.m.

Students on their way to class Wednesday morning say they were shocked to find a police presence on campus.

“The cops, they were stopping everyone from coming in this way," Arieana Rodriguez, a Montclair student explained. "All I saw was all the black smoke coming from over there. Yeah, it was crazy and all I was thinking was, ‘Where are we going to park?’”

The parking deck is located on College Avenue across from Sprague Field.  College Avenue was closed for at least two hours as officers diverted cars and New Jersey Transit buses to the Normal Avenue campus entrance. College Avenue is now back open and NJ Transit has resumed pick-up and drop-offs at that bus stop.