Photos/Story by Brian Crawford
Shreveport firefighters spent over an hour this morning battling a three-alarm building fire that destroyed a three story, three address condominium complex on South Lakeshore Drive adjacent to Cross Lake. Smoke from the fire, reported at 10:39 a.m., could be seen as far away as downtown Shreveport and took the efforts of fifty plus firefighters and fifteen different pieces of equipment to finally bring the fire under control at 11:45 a.m.
Fire crews were summoned earlier in the morning to 5705 Lakeridge Drive, the center home of the complex, by a neighbor after hearing a fire alarm sounding. James Gilley, 60, stated that he heard the alarm of his next door neighbor, Sid Jones, sounding this morning at 7:30 a.m. Gilley said he then called 911 and went over to check on and subsequently remove Jones from the residence as fire crews were arriving. That fire, whose origin was a single bedroom, taking up no more than a three-foot area of floor and bedding, was quickly extinguished with the charred materials being removed from the home to be further deluged outside. Jones told fire investigators that a knocked over lamp had started the fire. As a precaution, power to the residence was turned off by the Southwestern Electric Power Company. That fire is still under investigation .
Three hours later, Gilley stated that he was working at his desk when he first saw smoke outside the window of his lakefront home and then lapping flames. When fire crews arrived for the second time, all three residences were fully involved in flames. The fire traveled quickly from the middle home to the two outside residence by their outside wooden terraces, and roof line. Fire officials quickly called for a second alarm.
Their first priority was to ensure that all of the occupants were safely out of their homes. Once it was determined that everyone was out or removed, fire officers moved to a full scale fire attack. Using a defensive posture, the department set up a protective water curtain to protect the other homes adjacent but not connected to the blazing condominiums. Offensively, crews concentrated their efforts on the two outside homes of the building, as they were the most salvageable. The middle home, again the origin of the fire, was a total loss.
As the fire seemed to intensify and crews became weary, a third-alarm was pulled. With the dedicated efforts of firefighters and city building codes that include mandatory fire walls between homes in structures of this type, the fortunes began to turn to the advantage of the fire department and moments later the fire began to extinguish. Crews then began the task of salvage and overhauling the remains of three Shreveport family's lives.
Fire investigators were still on the scene at the time of this release. Jones was not at home when firefighters arrived for the second fire. No civilian or firefighter injuries were reported during this incident.
