NEW ORLEANS — Flames and smoke damaged a mixed-use building on the outskirts of the French Quarter during a 2-alarm fire early Wednesday morning.
The New Orleans Fire Department received the call about the fire at 3:39 a.m., at a two-story building that houses both businesses and apartments at the corner of St. Bernard Avenue and Rampart Street in the Seventh Ward, officials said.
Firefighters arrived at the building in the 1100 block of St. Bernard Avenue within 10 minutes, officials said, with 16 units carrying 48 first responders in total coming to battle the fire.
They could be seen on the second story of the complex using axes to break open walls to let the fire out of the building around 4:20 a.m.
The fire was under control by 4:40 a.m., officials said. Residents in the apartments on the second floor were able to get out before firefighters arrived and no injuries were reported.
The building houses the new Bourbon Square Coffee Cafe, which had a post about a grand opening event on its Facebook page last week.
NOFD investigators were trying to determine what caused the fire and said they believed it started on the first floor, possibly near the exterior, and started leading into the cafe.
No further information was immediately available.
It's been a busy December for the NOFD.
On Monday, an underground explosion in the French Quarter damaged several cars.
New Orleans Fire Department Captain Edwin Holmes said the force of the explosion caused at least four manhole covers to be "blown off into the street, into buildings and vehicles."
There were no reported injuries. Officials believe a faulty electrical line may have sparked the explosion.
On Dec. 6, The home of the director of New Orleans Emergency Medical Services was badly damaged by fire Thursday afternoon, displacing her and her family.
Two days earlier in the Seventh Ward, firefighters extinguished a 2-alarm fire in the 1900 block of N. Tonti Street.
New Orleans firefighters extinguished a 2-alarm fire in the Seventh Ward Wednesday evening.
At least one person was in the adjacent home, but managed to escape without injury. The homes on either side of the burned building sustained heavy fire damage.
Less than a week before that, another fire in the Seventh Ward claimed the life of a 76-year-old man.
The blaze broke out in a single-story, wood-framed shotgun double with flames coming from the rear of the house.
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