New Orleans Firefighters Battling Six-Alarm Blaze

“We know the fire started in the main fire building at 1018 Canal, on the second floor and now it spread to an adjacent building”, McConnell said.

Resident Michael Mallin said fire alarms in the apartment building went off about 3:30 a.m.

The first floor of the involved buildings housed businesses including a cell phone store, a beauty shop and a dress shop. The building was largely empty, and there were no injuries reported. He said the cause is under investigation. Several blocks of Canal Street, which borders the city’s French Quarter, have been closed. In commercial buildings particularly, McConnell added, “having an alarm system that would have reported this in its incipient phase would have made a huge difference for these buildings”.

The Fire Department reports that the blaze has gone to 6 alarms and large flames can be seen and heavy smoke is covering the area.

“The key here was that the fire was well advanced before we were ever notified”, the chief said.

Fifth and six alarms were dispatched at 4:00 a.m. and 4:27 a.m. respectively, as the fire began to spread to neighboring businesses.

One person was in the building, but escaped the flames without injury, McConnell said. Officials said that besides the traffic delays, the hotel is operating as normal.

Canal Street is blocked in both directions between Rampart and Burgundy Streets.