Chief C Mickal, NOFD Photo Unit.
The two-alarm fire at 2718-10 Martin Luther King Blvd.
Eight people were displaced Saturday by a fire that started in a neighboring abandoned property.
New Orleans firefighters responded to a 911 call reporting a fire at 2708-10 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. The first NOFD company arrived at 1:17 p.m. to find a one-story, wood-framed double shotgun heavily involved in flames.
The flames were spreading to neighboring properties, so the firefighters struck a second alarm. The neighbors had evacuated their homes before the first unit arrived.
The shotgun where the fire started was a vacant structure with no utility services. Neighbors stated that the home had been vacant for years and that they’d reported vagrants in the house on multiple occasions. Property records list Verla Goff of Aragorn Development Corp. in Mandeville as the building’s owner.
Chief C Mickal, NOFD Photo Unit.
No one was injured in the fire that spread to three neighboring buildings.
The fire consumed most of the original fire building and severely damaged neighboring homes, displacing three occupants at 2704-06 MLK Boulevard, two occupants at 2712 MLK and one occupant at 2714 MLK.
The American Red Cross will assist the people displaced by the fire. There were no civilian or firefighter injuries.
Eighteen NOFD units carrying 45 firefighters were dispatched to this incident, bringing it under control at 2:17 p.m. The cause of the fire is under investigation.
Chief C Mickal, NOFD Photo Unit.
Firefighters brought the blaze under control in an hour.
