Two-Alarm Fire on Elysian Fields Ave

On Thursday, January 13, 2022, at 10:14 pm, the New Orleans Fire Department (NOFD) responded to a fire in a two-story building on Elysian Fields Ave. The first company arrived on the scene of 1901 Elysian Fields Ave. at 10:14 pm. The in-service fire company was in route to their station after leaving the scene of another incident. While traveling on an elevated portion of Interstate-10 the company officer noticed heavy smoke in the general vicinity of Elysian Fields Ave. and N. Claiborne Ave. Firefighters exited the interstate to investigate further. When they arrived on the scene of 1901 Elysian Fields Ave., they found a two-story building heavily involved with fire. The company officer immediately notified Communications that there was a working fire at the location and struck a second alarm at 10:16 pm. Upon arrival firefighters took a defensive posture when attacking the fire. The first officer on the scene determined the original fire building at that time had suffered too much damage to be saved. Additional companies arrived shortly after and were concerned about the potential of the fire spreading so they started protecting the surrounding homes and vehicles. Two cars in the rear of the building were heavily damaged as well as a home to the immediate left of the fire building located at 1913 Elysian Fields Ave. The exposure building sustained significant exterior siding damage, but firefighters were able to quickly halt the fire from doing any further damage to the structure. The fire building was constructed of two types of building materials. The front of the structure was constructed of brick, but the bulk of the building appears to have been an addition that was constructed primarily of wood. This section of the building quickly became unstable and collapsed under the immense heat of the fire. Fortunately, members of the New Orleans Fire Department are extensively trained and have become seasoned from years of battling blazes similar to this one. The firefighters were in tune with this type of building construction as well as the way the fire would progress, so they had already set up a collapse zone and were working this incident from a safe distance in preparation for an event such as the partial collapse that occurred. Crews continued working to extinguish the active fire in the front section of the structure that remained, as well as flooding the collapsed section of the structure with water to help extinguish the fire that was trapped under the rubble.
Sixteen NOFD units carrying Forty Fire Operations personnel were deployed to the scene of this fire. The fire was placed under control at 11:48 pm. New Orleans Police, New Orleans Emergency Medical Services as well as Entergy Gas responded to help mitigate this incident. There are no reports of any civilian or firefighter injuries. An investigator was called to the scene to assist in determining the cause of the fire. This incident is currently under investigation.
Fire Called in by NOFD: 10:14 p.m.
On Scene: 10:14 p.m.
2nd Alarm: 10:16 p.m.
Under Control: 11:48 p.m.
NOFD Personnel: 40
NOFD Units: 16
Cause: Under Investigation
Injuries: None Reported