Another Fire-Related Death In Shreveport?

Not even a whole week into the new year, and Shreveport has already had to record what appears to be its second fire-related death. Fire Department Spokesman Fred Sanders says this is unusual for the city, which only had one fire death each in 2011 and 2012.

"It's very unfortunate, the situation that occurred last night. I don't want to say it's a fire-related death, because it's still under investigation. And we are working in conjunction with the Shreveport Police Department," Sanders says. "But it is very uncommon for us of late."

In this latest incident, firefighters were called out to an industrial area in the 9300 block of Mansfield Road, which actually turned out to be a wooded area in the 2600 block of Truly. Sanders says a fire station is located not even a minute from there, so crews were able to extinguish the blaze rather quickly.

Once the fire was out, investigators found the body of a white male, but no other information is known right now. The body was sent to the Caddo Coroner's Office for possible identification.

Sanders tells KEEL News that the area is frequented by the homeless, who set up camp there, but no other remains were found.