February 6, 2001

PRESS RELEASE

To: Newsroom

For Immediate Release

Contact: Brian A. Crawford, Public Information Officer

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

MLK Fire Damages Two Houses

An early morning fire caused heavy damaged to one Martin Luther King (MLK) Drive home and left another with light damage. The call reporting the fire was received by 911 fire communications officers at 5:35 a.m. When Shreveport fire crews arrived at 1636 MLK Drive at 5:40 a.m., they found the single story home fully involved in fire. A neighbor’s house, located at 1638 MLK Drive, had also begun to burn due to the intense heat and fire coming from next door.

Firefighters immediately began extinguishing efforts on both structures, where their main areas of concentration included: quickly eliminating the fire at 1638; attacking the fire in the attic and roof of 1636; and simultaneously initiated a search and rescue effort for any occupants of 1636 that may be inside the home. It was later learned that the occupants of 1636 MKL Drive, Lebert and Loratta Johnson, were not at home at the time of the fire. At 6:05 a.m. the fire’s incident commander listed the fire as under control but not without first dealing with some problems. During the fire, live electric wires had fallen and landed between the two homes, making it dangerous and difficult for firefighters to reach some portions of the two structures. Additionally, at 1636, one of the home’s steel burglar bars covering a window had fallen off, striking and rupturing the residence’s natural gas line, which subsequently ignited. Fire officers quickly had both the electricity and gas turned off.

There were no reports of civilian or firefighter injuries during the incident. According to Fire Investigator Russell Moon of the department’s fire prevention bureau, the fire started in a back bedroom due to an unattended electric space heater.

###