March 5, 2001

PRESS RELEASE

To: Newsroom

For Immediate Release

Contact: Brian A. Crawford, Public Information Officer

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

University Terrace Home Destroyed by Fire

Firefighters spend an hour this afternoon extinguishing a roaring two-story house fire at 1517 Cambridge Driver in the University Terrace neighborhood of Southeast Shreveport. The first call reporting the fire at 11:28 a.m. came from a neighbor at 1517 Cambridge stating the back of the home was totally involved in fire. When crews arrived from the nearby 70^th Street station, fire was swirling inside of the home’s carport, engulfing a boat parked there, while smoke was pouring from the upstairs eaves.

Captain Buddy Parker, whose crew was the first inside the structure, stated that when they reached the upstairs, where there were two bedrooms and a bathroom, there was no visible fire, just intense heat. Minutes later Parker’s crew was enveloped in flames as the super heated gasses from the fire ignited in a flash-over that consumed the entire floor. Parker and his crew were able to escape back down the stairs, unharmed but shaken. Incident Commander, Chief Truman Wimberly, working his last shift after 30 years of service to the department, called for additional companies when the fire broke through the roof of the home. After 60 minutes of intense and exhausting firefighting, the blaze was brought under control at 12:28 p.m.

The home’s owner Cecil McCune, 54, was renting the residence to Tony Larry. Larry stated that he and his wife Tina left the residence this morning a little before 8:00 a.m. Guests in the home, Larry’s sister, Cindy Moore, 38, and her 11-year-old son, had left the home at 11:00 a.m. for a doctor’s appointment. Fire investigators have determined that the fire originated in the kitchen and was due to a burner on the stove being left on under a pot of food. Moore told fire investigators that she had used the stove that morning. Firefighters found the burner’s control still in the on position and the pot melted on top of the stove.

No injuries were reported to firefighters or civilians. Damage is heavy with the residence considered almost a complete loss. ###