February 10, 2001

PRESS RELEASE

To: Newsroom

For Immediate Release

Contact: Brian A. Crawford, Public Information Officer

Phone: 673-6652, cell: 455-2609, page: 675-2137

Firefighters Battle Two-Alarm Apartment Fire

Shreveport firefighters braved cold temperatures and fought back an early morning apartment fire that damaged several units, leaving residence without shelter. Initial reports stated that building nine of the Stone Vista Apartments, 541 East Stoner Avenue, was on fire but when fire crews arrived at 4:05 a.m., white smoke was seen coming from the roof of an adjacent building. By the time firefighters reached the southern upstairs apartment of building eleven and the source of the smoke, they found its kitchen fully involved in fire. The fire had also broken through the ceiling of the apartment and had gotten into the attic of the structure.

The fire reaching the attic, prompted fire officers at the scene to call for a second alarm at 4:20 a.m. Minutes later the fire broke through the roof of the structure in a spectacular display of fire and smoke. As crews battled the original apartment fire, others were sent into the attic in an attempt to head off the fire before it reached other residence. Several companies of firefighters were assigned to evacuate the remaining residence of building eleven as well as building nine. Resident Tonya Jackson, 31, stated that she and her three children, 3, 9, and 11, were asleep when firefighters came pounding on her door alerting her of the fire. "Me and my children were sound asleep . . . I am glad the fire department was here as quick as they were and got us all out in time," says Jackson.

As the fire was given easy access to race along the length of the attic due to its common construction (no fire brakes or stops), firefighters battled back by crawling along narrow, wooden trusses with fire hoses to finally extinguish the blaze at 4:50 a.m. In all, three apartments of the two story structure received fire and smoke damage, one extensively, and several others on the ground floor sustained damage from the water used to extinguish the fire.

One firefighter was injured at the scene. Richard Morrow, a department rookie, severely sprained his ankle when, attempting to connect hose to a fire hydrant, he stepping off of a fire engine and into a hole on the ground. He was transported to Willis Knighton South Medical Center, where he was treated and released. No civilian injuries were reported. The fire is under investigation by the department’s fire prevention bureau but appears to have originated in the kitchen of the southern upstairs apartment of building eleven.

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