VIDEO/PHOTOS: A spectacular two-alarm blaze overnight engulfed the city’s Old Market Street Wharf, the New Orleans Fire Department said Sunday (Oct. 17).
Whipped by strong, gusty winds, the fire at its peak spread up-river the length of nearly four city blocks, from Market Street almost to the current wharf’s entrance at Felicity Street. The NOFD dispatched 16 units with 41 firefighters to battle the raging fire for nearly 12 hours and keep it from reaching the current wharf facility.
The fire first was reported Saturday night at 11:01 p.m., according to Capt. Edwin Holmes, the NOFD’s spokesman. It finally was brought under control at 10:54 a.m.
Holmes said the first firefighters arrived on scene at 11:13 p.m. They sounded a second alarm 19 minutes later, requesting more units after realizing the scope of the fast-moving fire.