Fire at Old Metairie housing complex caused by apparent lightning strike; more than 30 displaced
BY DELLA HASSELLE | dhasselle@theadvocate.com
Photos: Matthew Hinton
Grace George was in her dining room in Old Metairie on Labor Day, looking out the window to her balcony, when she saw what she described as “red and orange clouds” in the distance.
The 85-year-old resident of DeLimon Place, a condominium and town home community, walked away from the window. She then heard an extremely loud noise and felt her building shake.
“It sounded like an atomic bomb,” George said.
The noise, according to fire officials, was an apparent lightning strike that led to a fire, causing no serious injuries but displacing more than 30 people in the complex.
Joe Greco, the director of the East Bank Consolidated Fire Department, said the fire at 401 Rue St. Ann started shortly after 11 a.m. Monday. Eighteen units in the complex sustained fire, water or smoke damage, he said.
George’s apartment was one of those units, although she didn’t know it at the time. After she heard the loud noise, she said, nothing seemed out of the ordinary, so she went back to her business — even after hearing a knock on the door.
Photos: Matthew Hinton
“I’m really not very friendly, so I ignored it,” George said. “Finally, I answered, and a fireman said, ‘Lady, the place is on fire on the third floor.’ That’s when I saw the smoke come pouring out in the hallway.”
Firefighters had the blaze under control in roughly an hour, according to fire officials and others who were at the scene.
Greco said the only injury was to a Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office deputy who helped the residents evacuate. The deputy was treated at the scene for smoke inhalation.
Altogether, more than 30 people were displaced, according to Keith Orth, the president of CleanPro Cleaning and Restoration, the company that had come Tuesday to mitigate the fire damage.
Pointing to the section of roof where the lightning apparently hit, Orth described the apartment unit beneath it as “a total loss.”
Black char was all that remained of that portion of the roof, and blue sky could be seen through a large gaping hole. Shattered glass in the window offered a peek of burnt destruction inside.
“You can just see the sky,” Orth said.
The two units below that one also had “substantial” damage, he said, and several others were affected by water or smoke.
Orth estimated the mitigation process would take about two weeks and would include assessing water damage, cleaning up soot and removing the smell of smoke with dehumidifiers and charcoal-activated filters.
After that, he said, repairs will be made. He couldn’t estimate how long it would be before all residents can move back into their units.
George was just walking into the building Tuesday for the first time since the fire to assess the damage in her apartment. Charlotte Spooner, who lives a few units over, had already been inside hers.
Like others, Spooner had begun the process of sorting out claims with her insurance company and cleaning soot off damaged property. She described picking up a rug in the powder room and seeing the original color of the tile only where the rug had been.
“The rest of it is just black,” Spooner said. “It’s been awful.”
Johnny Crosby, the manager for several of the units, said many of the residents in the building were elderly and are staying with relatives or in hotels. No one he knew of had to go to a shelter.
He had been through this with residents before, he said — during Hurricane Katrina. During that storm, the north face of the roughly 90-unit complex had wind damage, and part of the roof was ripped off.
“As far as damage goes, it’s pretty similar,” Crosby said. “But everybody got out safe, there were no pets or people injured, so I’m trying to put things in perspective. It could have been worse.”
Staff writer Matt Sledge contributed to this report.
