New Orleans Firefighters Battle Four-Alarm Hotel Fire

The New Orleans Fire Department responded to a fire at Le Meridien, a Central Business District hotel in the 300 block of Poydras Street, on Sunday evening. Fire officials said the fire came under control at 7:15 p.m.

In a tweet, the NOFD first called the incident a three-alarm fire but, in a follow-up tweet, upgraded it to four alarms.

At least a half-dozen fire trucks, two ambulances and other EMS vehicles were at the relatively calm scene Sunday evening at about 6 p.m. Poydras Street, one of downtown New Orleans’ main thoroughfares, was shut down between Tchoupitoulas and S. Peters streets.

The NOFD received the call about a fire on 333 Poydras around 3:57 p.m. and the first truck arrived on scene at 4:07 p.m., authorities said. Firefighters helped evacuate the hotel, which was 95 percent occupied at the time the fire broke out. There are 410 rooms in the hotel.

Eighty-two firefighters helped battle the fire that started in a mechanical room on the 24th floor of the hotel, which is the top floor. They carried their equipment up 24 flights of stairs after shutting off the building’s power

Ten firefighters were treated on the scene for smoke inhalation and heat exhaustion and transported to hospitals, NOFD spokesman Louis Carrier said. Four others were treated on the scene but did not go to the hospital. EMS Director Emily Nichols said all firefighters were in stable condition as of 7:45 p.m. Seven guests were treated on the scene, Carrier said.

While the fire could not officially be called under control at about 7 p.m., Carrier said, it was not growing. The number of alarms called was due to the size of the hotel building and the lack of electricity, requiring firefighters to go up so many flights of stairs, Carrier said.

Dozens of people stood across the street from the hotel watching the commotion, though no hoses were being used to spray water from outside. At least four firefighters could be seen sitting in folding chairs in the roadway as they were treated for smoke inhalation and heat exhaustion. Two firefighters held oxygen masks to their faces while EMTs stood nearby with water bottles.

Several bags of luggage surrounded Lynn Jackson and Angela Davis from Baton Rouge as they sat on the ground across from the hotel Sunday. They were getting ready to take their mothers, 68 and 63, out to dinner for Mother’s Day when the lights flickered on the 22nd floor. Davis and Jackson said they heard an announcement advising everyone to leave the hotel.

The women helped their mothers, one of whom who has undergone double-knee surgery and the other awaiting her own pending surgery, down 22 flights of stairs. Once they reached the third floor, they started to see and smell smoke, Jackson said.

A couple visiting from England said they were having a drink at the hotel bar around 4 p.m. when staff approached them and told them to evacuate. Since then, Marilyn and Chris Fardell have waited outside near the crowd of their fellow hotel visitors.

One they got outside, the couple said they saw smoke coming from the top of the hotel. They also said they saw firefighters help a couple from the 7th floor, Chris Fardell said, though it wasn’t immediately known whether the pair had been injured.

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