By Walt Philbin
Times-Picayune (New Orleans)
Copyright 2006 The Times-Picayune Publishing Company
A three-alarm fire early Wednesday that began in a vacant Faubourg Marigny house — where firefighters put out a fire two days earlier — destroyed an occupied double house next door and damaged another occupied building, displacing seven people, Fire Department and Red Cross officials said.
The fire at the corner of North Rampart and Mandeville streets was one of four that firefighters battled Wednesday, while having to contend with low water pressure in at least two cases — a three-alarm fire on South Johnson Street near Canal and South Galvez streets, and a Gentilly fire just south of Robert E. Lee Boulevard and St. Bernard Avenue.
The four fires were all under investigation — though Fire Department spokeswoman Carlene Barthe said that didn’t necessarily mean any of them was suspicious.
A fire was reported at 2:23 a.m. at 2410 N. Rampart St., where firefighters had extinguished a one-alarm fire Monday, Barthe said.
This time the building was in flames when the first engines arrived, and the fire had already spread to two doubles at 2412-2414 N. Rampart St. and 929-31 Mandeville St., both of them occupied.
By the time the fire was put out, the first building and the double on North Rampart were destroyed, and the rear of the Mandeville house was heavily damaged, Barthe said.
Four families were displaced, Barthe said. Red Cross spokeswoman Alison Mehr said seven people lost their homes in the fire.
The Red Cross offered food, clothing, shelter and medical aid to the seven people “where needed,” Mehr said.
Mehr said the Red Cross also responded to a fire that damaged two homes in the 200 block of South Johnson, but learned they were vacant.
Eighth District Fire Chief Robert Eiserloh said the fire, reported shortly after 9 a.m., began in a wooden, one-story double shotgun at 221 S. Johnson, and spread to a brick, one-story double at 219 S. Johnson before firefighters controlled the blaze in about 45 minutes.
The 80 firefighters who responded found water access limited in the neighborhood, a short distance from Tulane and South Claiborne avenues, and Eiserloh had to call in a truck carrying a water tank, and a pair of helicopters, which made 750-gallon water drops from the Mississippi River.
“We had a slight water problem because there are a lot of small mains in the area, which is common in some of these older neighborhoods,” Eiserloh said. “There was a need to get water quickly. The helicopters helped out a lot.”
It’s the third fire in the area since early April. Firefighters fought separate blazes at the Economy Motor Lodge motel at 1725 Tulane Ave. on April 4 and April 5.
The South Johnson fire wouldn’t be the last time Wednesday that the nagging problem of inadequate water pressure would hamper firefighters.
As they did a day earlier in another Gentilly one-alarm fire, firefighters Wednesday afternoon encountered water pressure problems in a fire at a vacant one-story brick building at 1358 Burbank St.
The chief at the scene, on seeing flames already breaking through the roof, called for a helicopter within a minute of his arrival, and the fire was doused without spreading to any other houses, the Fire Department said.
The home was almost completely destroyed by 4 p.m., according to witnesses, who said flames continued to shoot from the brick rubble even as firefighters and helicopters were dousing the blaze.
Though it wasn’t clear if anyone was living there, a travel trailer next to the home had a sign dangling from it that read: “We Are Rebuilding.”
Although the Fire Department couldn’t confirm whether firefighters had water pressure problems battling a two-alarm fire early Wednesday morning at 4522 San Marco in Venetian Isles, there were reports of water pressure problems in that area as well.
The fire, reported Tuesday night a half-hour before midnight, damaged a two-story, wood-frame house and wasn’t brought under control until shortly after 2:30 a.m., Barthe said.