Fires continue to burn at a steady pace in New Orleans. Each night during a recent three-week period, the Rescue and Flying Manpower Squads responded to fires at around 10 P.M. and were out until 6 or 7 o’clock the following morning, going from fire to fire. Most of the areas that are burning no longer have any people living there. Delayed alarms to the fire department and long responses due to firehouses still being out of service allow buildings to become fully involved upon arrival of the first units. Several fire companies are out of service because they have no serviceable apparatus, although an order for 15 new apparatus was scheduled to be delivered shortly. To assist with water supply, two tanker task forces with three to four tankers each were still responding as of a few weeks ago.
Structural Fires
September 2005 through June 2006
September 108
October 57
November 54
December 37
January 39
February 58
March 55
April 59
May 46
June 79
Total Incidents
September 2005 through June 2006
September 404
October 175
November 847
December 796
January 701
February 800
March 906
April 943
May 802
June 978
Source: New Orleans Fire Department
