New Orleans - A family of six is homeless after a three-alarm fire spread to their house this morning.
It started in an vacant building next door to the family's home in the 2600 hundred block of North Dorgenois and St. Phillip.
"It's a total loss. I just bought all my stuff. I just hate to see it gone like that," said resident Joann McKenzie.
It took 68 firemen, and 21 fire trucks to put out the massive fire.
"It's a vacant building, obviously, you can see it's been vacant since the storm," said N.O.F.D. Supt. Tim McConnell.
McKenzie and Keith Mango lived in the home next door with four children.
"When they come home, they aren't going to come home to a house. All their stuff is gone," said Mango.
McKenzie heard the fire start in the vacant convenience store around 7:30 this morning.
She started hearing some cracking and 'packaling,' so she looked outside the window. When she looked outside the window, she saw a whole lot of smoke. When we seen that, our eyes got big, we said 'oh, my goodness, there's a fire right next door to us, everybody get out," recalled Mango.
McConnell says it all started on the first floor. Both the building, and the car parked out front were on fire when firefighters arrived.
"For us, it's a matter of it's unoccupied, most of the time they're gutted, and when you don't have those fire protections, those built in fire protections such as sheet rock, the fire spreads rapidly and for us, it's always a concern," said McConnell.
"They need to try and take care of that, cause it's going to be a bigger problem, and it's go get worse," said Mingo.
The possibility of abandoned buildings becoming the home to vagrants and the homeless, and in many cases, catching fire has been a major issue in the city since Katrina - an unnerving trend that has neighbors, on edge.
"So my landlord did try to address the situation, but it seemed like nothing would ever happen," said McKenzie.
The city’s code enforcement director Winston Reid says there are as many as 70,000 vacant buildings across the city.
"Our first order of business is trying to get people to abate the violations, put them back in commerce as a result of rehabilitation. We've taken a very aggressive stance and approach to pushing blight through the system," said Winston.
The vacant building, which was once just a public nuisance, quickly turned into an immediate public safety hazard. Now neighbors say the demolition is years too late.
No one was injured in the fire. The cause is still under investigation.
