NEW ORLEANS — New Orleans firefighters called for more help as soon as they got to the scene of a fire on Christmas morning in the St. Roch neighborhood.
Several neighbors called 911 as early as 1:42 a.m. Friday morning, reporting a fire at an abandoned two-story apartment complex near Franklin Avenue and N Tonti Street, a spokesperson said.
Members of the New Orleans Fire Department got to the fire within 5 minutes, and the first thing they did was call for backup. It was only a two-alarm fire then.
The abandoned apartment complex fire intensified, and flames began to spread to a duplex next door, where 4 people lived.
Michael Williams, an NOFD firefighter, said all four people in the duplex were able to get out before getting hurt by the fire.
As 68 NOFD firefighters worked to put out the fire, they made a curtain of water between the duplex and the abandoned apartment complex, to stop the fire from spreading further.
That's when a live wire snapped and fell onto equipment being used to put out the fire, making the firefighter using it jump down to the neutral ground.
Williams said the firefighter was okay.
That's when firefighters called in for more back up. It was 1:49 a.m.
The abandoned apartment complex was destroyed, and a portion of the building collapsed.
The duplex next door was damaged by fire and water, but firefighters were able to stop the fire from spreading further.
Several NOFD crews stayed at the scene of the fire to make sure it didn't reignite.
No one was hurt, but firefighters are still working to find out what caused the fire.
The American Red Cross helped the 4 people left without a home by a 3-alarm fire on Christmas morning with temporary housing vouchers, some food and clothes.
NOFD members fighting the fire got help from other civic servants, including members of the New Orleans Police Department, the Louisiana State Fire Marshal, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Fire Arms, & Explosives, and the New Orleans' Office of Code Enforcement.