Tag: French Quarter

UPDATED Crews battle 6-alarm blaze at Quarter House Hotel; two firefighters injured

Two New Orleans firefighters were injured Thursday night and are recovering after battling a six-alarm fire that broke out at a Chartres Street hotel, a spokesman said.

Both firefighters became separated from the crews inside the Quarter House hotel, with one becoming temporarily trapped, and suffered smoke inhalation while exiting the building as flames intensified, said New Orleans Fire spokesman Gregory Davis.

The firefighters were transported to a local hospital, but are expected to make full recoveries.

Firefighters responded to a 911 call for a one-alarm fire shortly before 8 p.m. at the Quarter House Resort hotel located at 129 Chartres Street, said NOFD Chief Chris Mickal.

The first crews arrived at 7:55 p.m. and called a second alarm, adding more firefighting resources, after finding the roof of the five-story hotel on fire.

Fire crews were making an interior attack inside the hotel when the fire became stronger, prompting the third alarm to be called at 8:19, with firefighters ordered out of the building, Davis said, adding that the two firefighters separated from their teams and one became trapped in a confined space.

Crews immediately searched for the trapped firefighters and found them, breaking a window as they ran out of air, Davis said.

The blaze was reported out-of-control just before 9:30 p.m. and was upgraded to six alarms at 11:13 p.m., indicating a serious fire that ultimately required more than 80 fire personnel from 27 NOFD units.

The fire was brought under control at 2 a.m., Davis said.

Additionally, Louisiana State Police; the New Orleans Homeland Security and Preparedness, Emergency Medical Services and Police Department responded to the fire.

The cause of the fire is under investigation, Davis said.

(Above photo credit: NOFD; gallery credit below: NOFD, first four pictures; Kevin Minsky, last four pictures.)

Commission proposed to rename Gov. Nicholls Street, other city roads following protests

(Photo: Infrogmation | CC)
New Orleans City Councilmembers on Thursday are slated to consider an ordinance that would create a commission to rename certain streets, a proposal that comes amid recent calls from grassroots organizations to remove so-called symbols of white supremacy throughout the city.

The proposed ordinance followed demands by Take ‘Em Down NOLA during a Thursday press conference at City Hall and protest against racism and police brutality held at Duncan Plaza.

The ordinance would create a commission of nine appointed members who will have an advisory role in renaming certain streets, including Governor Nicholls Street, which runs just over a mile and a half from Treme through the French Quarter.

The street was named after Francis T. Nicholls, a Confederate Army general who served two nonconsecutive terms as Louisiana’s 28th governor following the Civil War and Reconstruction.

Other streets targeted for renaming including Claiborne and Tulane avenues, Galvez and Poydras streets and General Taylor Street.

Additionally, Take ‘Em Down NOLA identified several other French Quarter locations it says bear white supremacist names, including statues of Bienville, Edward Douglass White statue, Andrew Jackson, the KIPP McDonogh School for the Creative Arts and a plaque at Washington Artillery Park denoting that its cannon “served the Confederacy in two theaters” of the Civil War.

The council’s virtual meeting can be viewed via live stream here starting at 10 a.m. and public comment can be submitted here.

NOPD searches for person of interest in reported St. Louis Street auto theft

(Photo: NOPD)
A female person of interest is wanted by New Orleans Police in connection to an alleged St. Louis Street auto theft in May and other incidents.

New Orleans Police on June 10 released the above-pictured female who is believed to have information about the alleged auto theft in the 600 block of St. Louis Street on May 17.

Anyone with information regarding the identity and/or whereabouts of the person of interest is asked to contact Eight District detectives at 504-658-6080. Anonymous calls can contact Crimestoppers at 504-822-1111 or toll-free at 877-903-7867.

Take Em Down NOLA demands New Orleans remove Andrew Jackson statue

(Photo: Jeff Turner | CC)
A local grassroots organization whose efforts contributed to the removal of several Confederate statues in New Orleans demanded the city also take down Andrew Jackson during a protest in Duncan Plaza on Thursday.

During a speech on the steps of City Hall, members of Take Em Down NOLA issued several demands, including the immediate release of a timeline for the removal of the Andrew Jackson statue in the French Quarter.

Other demands included abolishing police and having a community-led process of removing symbols considered to be white supremacist, including the names of schools, parks and street names.

Thursday morning’s rally was just one of several in the last week sparked by the death of George Floyd, who died on May 25 following a video-recorded encounter of a Minneapolis Police officer kneeling on his neck for nearly nine minutes.

A person was shot shortly after 11:30 a.m. on the back side of the plaza as the rally occurred, although the shooting was unrelated, according to New Orleans Police.

For the last two weeks, protesters in dozens of states have taken to the streets demanding an end to racism, police brutality, inequality and economic injustice.

“We’re also talking about the ways in which symbolic white supremacist racism reflects itself inside of the system—the economic system and the social system that governs New Orleans,” one member said. “This is not a new conversation. This conversation has been in existence for at least a century since these monuments came up.

“We won’t get no satisfaction until we take down Andrew Jackson,” he said.

A video of the speech can be viewed here.

During the speech, a speaker labeled Jackson a “warmonger.”

Andrew Jackson was the seventh President of the United States and a slaveholder who opposed abolitionism.

Before becoming president, Jackson was a general and a politician who served in both houses of Congress. He led the United States to victory in the Battle of New Orleans in 1815, which took place more than two weeks following the formal end to the War of 1812.

Following the battle, Jackson commanded U.S. troops in a series of skirmishes against the Seminole tribe in Northern Florida. After he became president, his administration forced the removal of 60,000 Native Americans from the southeastern U.S. to territory west of the Mississippi River in the Trail of Tears.

Jackson died in 1845 and a statue of him riding atop a horse was erected in 1856 in the square called Place d’Armes, which was renamed Jackson Square.

Take Em Down Nola was instrumental in the 2017 removal of four Confederate statues in New Orleans, including Lee, Jefferson Davis, P.G.T. Beauregard and the Battle of Liberty Place Monument.

The movement to remove the statues began following the 2015 massacre at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina.

Instead, the group wants “revolutionary black and brown leaders” to replace the statues.

Thousands gather in Jackson Square to protest police brutality following George Floyd killing


WWL shows naked guy in front of Lafitte’s bar on live TV

(Photo: @salobonavia | Twitter)
A naked man was filmed by WWL on live TV during a Saturday report on the Phase Two reopening of the French Quarter.

The man was completely naked, except for shoes and the surgical face mask, and briefly appeared during reporter Meghan Kee’s live Saturday late afternoon broadcast in front of Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop Bar at the corner of Bourbon and St. Philip streets (pictured above).

The man was a participant in the World Naked Bike Ride held in New Orleans on the same day the city entered Phase Two reopening from COVID-19 lockdown restrictions.