By Walt Philbin
Times-Picayune
Copyright 2007 The Times-Picayune Publishing Company
UPTOWN, N.O. — Two women were injured in separate Uptown fires that were among nine blazes in a 13½-hour span Monday, a Fire Department official said.
One of the women was injured in a flash-type fire about 7:15 a.m. that ignited when she tried to burn a Christmas tree in a fireplace at her home in the 600 block of Cherokee Street, Deputy Chief Glenn Trainor said.
She was taken to a hospital, but Trainor didn’t know the extent of her injuries.
The one-alarm fire was nearly out when firefighters arrived and finished extinguishing it, Trainor said. Damage to the house was minor, he said.
Another woman was injured in a fire reported about 9:30 a.m. at a residence in the 5600 block of Tchoupitoulas Street, Trainor said.
That fire too was quickly extinguished. The extent of that woman’s injuries wasn’t known.
Ten minutes before the Tchoupitoulas Street fire, a one-alarm fire was reported in a hotel in the Central Business District at 210 O’Keefe Ave. The fire was contained to a laundry room, Trainor said.
Two one-alarm fires at Algiers homes followed, one reported about 10:40 a.m. at 1674 Lauradale Drive, and the other reported at 12:07 p.m. in the 3300 block of Dickens Drive, Trainor said. No one was reported injured in either fire, he said.
A few minutes earlier, a fire reported at a two-story house at 2710 Erato St. caused heavy damage, Trainor said. No one was reported hurt in that fire, he said.
The upper floor of a two-story building at 4032-34 Eve St., just off Broad Street near the pumping station, caught fire sometime after 6 p.m., resulting in heavy damage, Trainor said. Firefighters believe the building was vacant. Firefighters managed to limit the damage to a one-story house next door at 4036 Eve St., he said.
While firefighters were fighting the Eve Street fire sometime after 6:30 p.m., a fire was reported in a French Quarter building where two apartments are located over a church and a bar at Dauphine and St. Louis streets.
Veronica Russell, a resident of the apartment over the Assembly of God church in the 400 block of Dauphine Street, said she was working at her computer when she smelled smoke and went across the hall and saw smoke coming from the apartment of her neighbor, a co-manager of the Double Play Bar, 439 Dauphine St. He fled from the apartment, and the only person injured in the fire was a firefighter who is believed to have strained his shoulder, Trainor said.
Russell’s apartment had smoke damage, but the other apartment had heavy damage, Trainor said. The fire is believed to have begun in the apartment over the bar. The bar had some water damage, and firefighters placed covers over the pool tables to keep them from being damaged, Trainor said.
At 8:45 p.m., firefighters were called to a two-alarm blaze in the 13100 block of Chateau Court in eastern New Orleans. No details were available on that fire, near Michoud Boulevard and Dwyer Road.
Except for the fire involving the Christmas tree, the causes of the fires had not been established Monday night.
The fires were all fought by the same platoon of firefighters in the first 12 hours of their 24-hour shift. The Fire Department is split into three platoons of firefighters who work 24 hours from 7 a.m. to 7 a.m., and have the next eight hours off.