2 weeks Ago
Water is poured onto a building at The Jolie Apartments in Shreveport, La., as firefighters battle a fire at the complex Sunday, May 26, 2024. By JILL PICKETT | Staff photographer A shopping cart lies on its side near the entrance to The Jolie Apartments in Shreveport, La.
, Tuesday, July 2, 2024. By JILL PICKETT | Staff photographer Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save Another fire broke out Wednesday afternoon at an abandoned Shreveport apartment complex — a property that now is in the hands of a court-appointed keeper responsible for securing the site. The Jolie Apartments lost one of its vacant building Wednesday after the City of Shreveport demolished it to ensure the late-morning fire that burned there was entirely out.
The apartment complex, which for months has been one of several trouble spots for a city struggling to rein in properties without adequate management, has seen multiple fires since its tenants essentially were forced out earlier this year. Firefighters can access the property, but the regularity of fires means others can, too, because the site is not secure. "Either somebody has access to the gate or they're getting in some other kind of way," said Shreveport Fire Chief Clarence Reese Jr.
"We had people passing us as we were going in in vehicles. We had to open the gate." The Jolie Apartments was one of three complexes which earlier this year lost access to water and other utilities over hefty unpaid bills.
But calling in those debts — hundreds of thousands of dollars — was to the city about significantly more than money. Shreveport throughout the year has tried to rein in complexes like the Jolie which had been unresponsive to corrective measures such as Property Standards citations. Turning off the water was meant to essentially shutter the complexes, and did, forcing the tenants to relocate and leaving the apartments essentially abandoned.
Though some of those apartments, including the Jolie, had been dealing with squatters even before the utilities were shut off, the problem only grew worse once the sites had been abandoned. The Jolie and the other complexes were placed under an emergency declaration in June which gave police the power to remove people from the properties. The hope was police would be able to prevent fires and other problems by keeping squatters away.
The mortgage holder for the Jolie Apartments has been cooperating with the City of Shreveport, both hopeful the property can be put back into commerce. A court-appointed keeper now is supposed to be managing and securing the site on the bank's behalf. Wednesday's fire proves that isn't working, Reese said.
"The only thing I think would help at this point is surveillance video by the property owners," Reese said. Firefighters were alerted to a blaze at the Jolie Apartments just before 11:40 a.m.
Wednesday, Reese said. They were able to access the property with a key available to the city for emergency use and, when they arrived, were met with heavy smoke and flames. "We're always worried about the exposure.
It's in close proximity to other buildings on the property, so our main deal was to contain it to that one building. Their instruction has been not to go in those vacant buildings. Unless we have someone yelling from a window, yelling from a door 'help me; save me, I'm trapped and I can't get out,' they're instructed to surround it and drown it," Reese said.
"The structures are unsafe. Floor is missing. There are all types of stuff missing that's been removed from those properties.
" Also missing from the property, he said, is copper piping likely stolen while the site was unguarded and various faucets and fixtures in the empty units. The city has the capacity to quickly restore water to the property, but now it all pours out of those missing pieces. "We have a water key to turn on the water to that entire complex.
The problem is there's no cut-off for each building, so when you turn the water on to supply the entire complex and those fire hydrants, they've stripped out all of those fixtures — shower fixtures, you name it — so when the water comes on, guess what happens. All of the buildings flood. There's water coming out of everywhere the water is supposed to come out of, so you don't have any water pressure," Reese said.
Shreveport firefighters Wednesday were forced to hook up to public hydrants off the complex grounds to tackle the blaze, Reese said, a challenging task which meant hauling hose line over levees and through private backyards. It took about two hours to get the fire under control, Reese said, and another four to put the scene to rest. That required Public Works to come in with excavators and tear the building down so any hidden hot spots could be safely extinguished, Reese said.
No one was injured during the fire, Reese said. Though the fire is under investigation, Reese said it's obvious that a person started it. "We know it's an arsonist.
We know somebody is setting them on fire," Reese said. "The red flag for me — I'm not going to speak on behalf of my investigators — is these are happening during the summer. You're not trying to stay warm.
" The city does not maintain any kind of ownership or control over the Jolie, and the site was delisted from the emergency declaration once the mortgage holder got involved and found a keeper for the property. It is now their responsibility to secure the property..
