NEW ORLEANS — The decades-old St. Claude tire shop is still standing after a fire ignited at the corner of St. Claude Ave and Louisa Street early Wednesday morning.
The two houses right next door collapsed though.
Frank Molina was awake and playing cards in an Airbnb three doors down when he heard multiple explosions.
“Something sounded like an explosion, we didn’t think anything of it. We continued playing. About 20 minutes or so later we heard another explosion still didn’t think anything of it then around 1:30 or so I saw all the emergency vehicle lights,” Molina said.
The New Orleans Fire Department arrived at the fire at around 1:30 A.M. According to the department, they had to call for backup two more times. It’s unclear how the fire started, but those staying nearby say the flames were significant.
“I looked up, and it was fire embers like ti was raining fire from the sky I walked across the street and the smoke was pretty heavy,” Molina said.
It took the department about two hours to put it out.
“Tires are extremely hard to ignite, but once they get rolling it’s very hard to put out. That was the most difficult portion of the incident last night,” Edwin Holmes, New Orleans Fire Department Captain, said.
Nearby residents who didn’t want to go on camera tell WWL-TV the tire shop opened in the 30s. Residents say while many other things on the block have changed, the tire shop never did. In fact, it was the first one to open after Hurricane Katrina. But now, the business may be closed at least for a while as it’s covered in soot and severely damaged.
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