December 26, 2001

PRESS RELEASE

To: Newsroom

For Immediate Release

Contact: Brian A. Crawford, Public Information Officer

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

Fire Damages Highland Apartment Complex

A fire that investigators are still looking into the cause of forced 12 people to flee their Highland neighborhood apartment this afternoon. Shreveport fire communications officers received the first 911 call reporting the fire at 235 ½ Boulevard Street at 2:16 p.m.

When firefighters pulled up to the two-story brick structure, smoke was pouring from the roof’s eaves and air vents.

Occupants of one of two top floor apartments, Marion Carthon, 28, said that he noticed smoke coming through the floor of his apartment and ran downstairs to the lone ground-floor apartment to see if there was a fire. When he arrived, occupant Carolyn McHenry, 43, was exiting the bottom apartment, along with 8 children, the youngest just 23 months old . Carthon told fire officials that he went into the apartment and tried to extinguish the fire with an extinguisher but was unsuccessful.

Firefighters were able to bring the blaze that appears to have started in a back bedroom of the home, under control at 3:00 p.m. Fire investigators are still looking into the exact cause of the fire which heavily damaged the bottom floor apartment. No injuries were reported. ###