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At least 12 residents are displaced after early morning fire on Harry Drive

4 years 9 months 3 weeks ago Sunday, May 26 2019 May 26, 2019 May 26, 2019 10:06 PM May 26, 2019 in News
Source: WBRZ News

BATON ROUGE- More than five hours after a fire erupted at an abandoned building on Harry Drive and Baton Rouge firefighters were still working to put it out.

"Because of the building collapse, we had to get DPW to bring us out of a tractor--some heavy equipment," said BRFD spokesperson Curte Monte. "Basically what you see firefighters doing now, they're moving around the parts of the building that had collapsed, so they can get the hotspots underneath and make sure it's fully extinguished."

The pile of twisted metal and rubble used to be an empty warehouse, behind it you can see the back end of a trailer park. Four trailers were damaged or destroyed as a result.

"The extension of the heat caused the trailers to ignite," said Monte.

Which leaves people like Velma and her family without a place to live.

"She's got five kids. She for sure can't stay in hers," said a firefighter to a Red Cross volunteer.

Most of the residents of this park do not speak any English, but one man said he and his neighbors did not even know there was a fire happening just feet away from where they were sleeping.

"Just a few minutes after arrival it started to collapse," said Monte.

The fire department says at least 12 people are now displaced and have nowhere to sleep tonight, many of them are children. The cause of the fire is unknown at this time.

"We do have investigators on scene. There was no power to the building. We're just not sure at this time."

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