NEW ORLEANS - More than a dozen people were displaced after a three-alarm fire spread from an empty Uptown duplex to an apartment building early Wednesday morning.
According to the New Orleans Fire Department, firefighters were dispatched to 3400 block of Carondelet Street just after midnight. At the scene, first responders found fire and thick smoke coming from the first and second floors of an unoccupied wood-framed shotgun duplex.
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Firefighters say the fire then spread to a multi-family apartment building that included eight apartment units. Thirteen adults and three children were able to safely escape the apartment building.
Elise Davis tells WWL-TV Eyewitness News that a neighbor awoke the family and warned them about the fire next door.
"The flames were just shooting out," Davis said. "I had to rush my grandchildren out. We also tried to wake everyone on the second and third floor also. We got everyone out."
Davis said the family had previously complained about homeless people at the abandoned property next to the apartments.
"No one was hurt, thank God for that," Davis said. "Thank God that someone saw the fire and woke us up."
Firefighters called for a second-alarm at 12:08 a.m. and a third-alarm was requested at 12:24 a.m. NOFD dispatched 22 units with 58 firefighters to bring the fire under control at 12:50 a.m.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
Watch: 16 people, including three children, displaced after 3-alarm fire in Uptown.
