After floods, fires threaten New Orleans' heritage

New Orleans, May 24 : Nine months after Hurricane Katrina's wind and floods laid waste to huge sections of New Orleans, a third element -- fire -- is slowly taking a toll on the city's historic architecture.

A rash of fires and a fire department short on equipment and manpower, are hampering rebuilding and leaving gaping holes in some of the three-century-old city's neighbourhoods.

''We've lost a lot in the city,'' said New Orleans Fire Department superintendent Charles Parent.

With the city's population down by more than half from before the storm, firefighters are receiving fewer calls. But the intensity and duration of the blazes are up dramatically.

More than 1,260 fires have been logged since Katrina hit on August 29. Four, including a huge blaze last week that claimed two abandoned wharves on the Mississippi, were five-alarm fires, meaning over 90 firefighters and 32 fire engines and other vehicles were called in from across the city.

In a typical year, Parent said, the department might respond to one or two five-alarm fires.

So far, no one has been killed in the fires, but they worry preservationists already reeling from the loss of an untold number of old buildings to Katrina.

''It's the sort of thing that makes you, as a preservationist or just somebody who loves old buildings or old New Orleans neighborhoods, it makes you feel terribly discouraged,'' said Stephanie Bruno, director of the non-profit Preservation Resource Center's Operation Comeback program.

Leaky gas pipes and storm-damaged electrical systems have raised fire risks. Many blazes, such as the wharf fires, have been blamed on construction and demolition crews.

Others, including an April 3 blaze that damaged a downtown hotel, have been attributed to transient workers squatting in abandoned homes and buildings.

Others are believed to have been deliberately set by building owners whose property was not covered by flood or wind insurance.

And the salt-water intrusion of Katrina's floods, followed by a long dry spell, have turned vegetation and abandoned buildings in many neighbuorhoods to tinder.

With huge swaths of the city still underpopulated, Parent said, fires are being detected and reported later, adding critical minutes to response times. ''We don't have people out there, so the fire gets a good start on us,'' he said.

Federal authorities are helping probe several suspicious fires, especially those that may involve insurance fraud.

Meanwhile, the New Orleans Fire Department is battling internal woes. Short-handed even before Katrina, the department lost 62 of 680 uniformed firefighters to retirement or resignation after the storm, Parent said.

An average of 100 staffers are out sick on any given day, and the hurricane destroyed or heavily damaged 23 of the department's 32 fire stations.

With a new hurricane season two weeks away, the department is working to correct some of the tactical problems that hampered its work during Katrina, Parent said.

Communications systems have been beefed up and all available firefighters will be called to duty in the event of a citywide evacuation, he said.

Reuters