NEW ORLEANS — Crews hired by the building owner spent the day welding up openings in the vacant Plaza Tower in downtown New Orleans.
Monday morning, a man fell to his death There.
Sunday night, firefighters battled a two-alarm fire in the parking structure that sent heavy smoke billowing from several levels of the long abandoned, 45-story skyscraper.
Fire Superintendent Roman Nelson said they put out a large trash fire that burned near some of the building’s structural beams.
“Any time you have exposed steel beams, they do not like fire and the heat tends to warp and twist and can collapse,” Nelson said. “I’m not an engineer, so I’ll leave that up to the engineers, but there’s some deflection that could cause some issues.”
City Code Enforcement officers and structural engineers are now inspecting the building.
Fire officials said people were leaving the Plaza Tower as firefighters arrived on Sunday.
“Yesterday, we saw a large number of people that were actually living in the building, had a lot of contents,” Nelson said.
Just hours after the fire, New Orleans EMS confirms paramedics responded to a call at the Plaza Tower. A NOEMS spokesman said a man fell from the building and died from his injuries.
City Council Member Leslie Harris, whose district includes the Plaza Tower said the building clearly poses a safety threat to citizens and visitors to the city.
“I walked that building and I know that there’s a chain link fence up, but clearly people are going in and out of it, so that’s not secure enough, especially after these two incidents,” Harris said.
In a statement, building owner Joe Jaeger told Eyewitness News entries are welded up and the fence is re-secured but even that does not keep intruders out.
He spoke about the problem with WWL-TV, last November.
“Between professional strippers who strip the building and the vagrants that are doing whatever and the thrill seekers you've got, you can't police it,” Jaeger said. “If I weld the door up and somebody comes and cuts the door and gets in there and does whatever, how can I stop that. How can you stop that from happening?”
Councilmember Harris said the city may need to step in and take over security at the Plaza Tower.
“I spoke to the owner a few months ago about additional security measures, including patrols around the building," she said. "Of course, he said that was costly. But is there anything more costly than someone losing their life.”
Joe Jaeger confirmed the building is up for sale and offers are due in two weeks.
Here is Jaeger’s full statement to WWL-TV:
“We continue to re-secure the building when we identify illegal entry and break in. Entries are welded up and fence is RE secured but even that does not keep the intruders out. We continue to check the building on a regular basis and if new entries are identified, they are closed the same day. There is a crew there today checking and closing openings that were created over the weekend.”
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