Eight people and two dogs were killed in a fire in an abandoned warehouse in New Orleans’ 9^th ward. The fire is among the deadliest fires recorded in the city and the worst since 32 died at a French Quarter lounge in 1973.

The New Orleans Fire Department was dispatched to the engulfed warehouse on Dec. 28, 2010 at 2 a.m. The fire was started by lit trash in a 55-gallon drum that was being used by squatters to stay warm amid freezing temperatures, according to a NOFD report.

Unmaintained buildings become hazards, especially when occupied by homeless people or what locals in New Orleans call “gutter sharks” — an underground, transient youth culture that often begs for money or cigarettes on French Quarter streets — said Butch Browning, Louisiana state fire marshal, who is assisting with the fire investigation. While the culture may use some of the city’s social services, they refuse to stay in homeless shelters and use social networking to find and then occupy vacant buildings, Browning said.

“This type of lifestyle … people go and live in these buildings intentionally,” he said. “This is very primitive living.”

Ten people were sleeping in the warehouse at the time of the fire. Two escaped and used a cell phone to call 911. But the dilapidated wood-frame structure covered in metal tin was engulfed by the time engines arrived.

“They weren’t able to find any survivors,” Browning said. “Most of the individuals killed were not Louisiana residents.”

Hurricane Katrina’s wrath weakened the warehouse’s structural integrity prior to the fire, Browning said. It was on the city’s list of buildings to be torn.

The New Orleans Fire Department reports that since Katrina, 35% of its calls are to vacant buildings, a percentage that has affected the fire department’s tactics. For example, the department recently received a FIRE Grant to implement an Assessment, Identification and Mitigation (AIM) Program, which identifies and marks abandoned, blighted or otherwise unsafe structures. Browning said the program lets incident commanders strategically modify suppression tactics to minimize risks and reduce firefighter injuries. He said the department also increased training in risk-benefit assessment for its officers.

“There are more than 60,000 vacant buildings in New Orleans post-Katrina,” Browning said. “If the risk is high, firefighters are not making an interior attack into these buildings because they are damaged from Katrina. The roof decks aren’t stable; the wall frames are not stable. So they are not entering these buildings unless it is to save a life.”

Browning said ultimately the city must address the risk of abandoned buildings throughout New Orleans. Dilapidated buildings can collapse and trap occupants, and a boarded-up, secure building provides a hazard for occupants who broke in through a window and only have one point of exit. He said it also hinders firefighters’ ability to enter the building to save a life.

“It causes a lot of dead-ends in buildings where maybe these homeless people are trapped and there are no exits,” he said. “So many bad things can happen in these buildings, whether it is homeless, young adults or children playing. You have to tear those buildings down… . If they are not going to become code compliant, they have to come down.”

Fire Stats

1st alarm: 1:55 a.m.
On scene: 2:00 a.m.
2nd alarm: 3:09 a.m.
Under control: 2:33 a.m.
Units deployed: 17
Firefighters deployed: 37
Injuries: 0
Fatalities: 8
Cause: Trash in a barrel

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