(image via New Orleans Fire Department)
A fire that started at a home on Carondelet Street overnight spread to an apartment building next door, costing 16 people their homes, although no one was harmed, authorities said.
The first 911 call reporting the fire at 3415 Carondelet (near Delachaise) was received at 12:03 a.m. Wednesday, April 25, and firefighters arrived five minutes later to find a wood-frame camelback double burning “with fire and thick black smoke coming from the first floor attic and the windows of the second floor,” according to a New Orleans Fire Department news release.
The fire then spread next door to an apartment building with eight units, seven of which had tenants inside, the report states.
“It was determined that all residents had escaped safely,” the report states. “Thirteen adults and three children were displaced due to this incident.”
The original home where the fire started was unoccupied, and the apartment residents were all unharmed and referred to the American Red Cross for housing assistance, the report states. With both a second and then a third alarm summoning reinforcements, 58 NOFD employees on 22 vehicles ultimately managed to bring the fire under control by 12:50 a.m.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation, the report states.
(image via New Orleans Fire Department)
