NEW ORLEANS -- Since Hurricane Katrina blighted and abandoned properties have posed a major problem for firefighters, and two fires on Monday -- one in New Orleans East and the other in St. Bernard Parish -- show the problem isn't going away anytime soon.
The flames stretched beyond an abandoned apartment building Monday morning and left several people homeless in St. Bernard Parish.
“Just in this one block that we're standing in, we've had three major fires since January of 2008 and since Katrina we've had four major fires just in the Village Square area,” said St. Bernard Parish Fire Chief Thomas Stone.
Stone said he thinks it's someone who's sick of the blight setting the fires intentionally. The cause of Monday night's fire at Village Square is still under investigation.
His crew tested the fire hydrants in the area Tuesday to make sure they're working. Many aren't functioning, others are hard to find under all the overgrowth.
“They're covered by jungles, overgrown grass, weeds that have turned into trees and are extremely difficult to find,” Stone said.
They spray painted the street to show where the hydrants are, but their main worry is the blight in Village Square where four years after Hurricane Katrina, some of the apartment buildings have even become a home for the homeless.
St. Bernard Parish is not alone.
The blight in New Orleans is still so bad that the New Orleans Fire Department started marking abandoned properties a year ago with “X” placards.
“This program is not a blighted or demolition program. This is the identification of properties for the safety of firefighters,” said Chief Elbert Stone, head of the New Orleans Fire Department’s Fire Prevention office.
Elbert said a red square, with no markings inside it tells fire crews to use caution. Signs with one diagonal tell them to use extreme caution and those with an "x" tells firefighters to fight it from the outside, as it could be life-threatening to go inside.
“We also get calls from the community at large notifying us of certain properties and we will send out our inspectors and affix the placards as necessary,” Elbert said.
Since October of last year, they've marked 1,100 properties.
According to Thomas, they do notify the city agencies responsible for condemnation and demolition once they find a dangerous property.
A fire in New Orleans East Monday showed the properties also pose a fire risk because their condition makes them burn faster and with more intensity.
Both chiefs said Monday's fires show the properties also pose a fire risk because their condition makes them burn faster and with more intensity.
