New Orleans, LA- General Alarm 5-17-06

[Truck4 48]

Date: 5-17-06

Time: 0800hrs

Location: Orange Street and Market Street Wharfs

Departments: NOFD, M/A including Aviation units and fireboats

Description: Several fully involved abandoned frame structures in the process of being torn down.

Writer: Truck4

Links:

Photos

http://www.nola.com/

Video

http://www.wwltv.com/

New Orleans firefigfhters are battling a three-alarm blaze at two abandoned Port of New Orleans wharfs along the Mississippi riverfront, officials said, and are also working to keep the flames from spreading to more than a dozen railroad tanker cars nearby.

The fire began this morning at the Orange Street Wharf and extended to the Market Street Wharf, both of which were in the process of being torn down by private contractor The Trust for Public Land, said port spokesperson Chris Bonura. Once torn down, the area is supposed to be the site of parks and a meditation area, he said.

The contractor had been issued a “hot permit,” which allowed them to use torches to help tear down the structures, Bonura said. He was unsure exactly which instruments workers were using there this morning.

Helicopters were dumping large buckets of water onto the blaze and boats along the river were helping multiple fire engines shoot water onto the flames. Firefighters from as far as LaPlace were called in to contain the fire.

It was unclear what’s inside the tanker cars located about 100 yards away from the fire, but fire officials were trying to keep heat away from that area. Three ladder trucks were position between the fire and the tanker cars and were spraying water on the tankers and the ground around them.

By 10:30 a.m., officials appeared to be getting the blaze under control. Flames were no longer visible, although massive amounts of gray smoke continued to billow up from the site.