Shreveport Firefighter Hurting Battling Vacant Home Blaze

SHREVEPORT, LA – Another vacant house goes up in flames in Shreveport. This blaze happened just before 9:30 Tuesday night in the 2100 block of Pearl Street in the Martin Luther King Jr. neighborhood.

A neighbor called 911 to report the fire. When firefighters arrived, they found heavy smoke and flames coming from the one-story wooden home. The fire was raging when crews got on the scene.

Firefighters began working to put out the blaze to keep it from spreading to other homes in the area. They were in for a battle that switched from and offensive attack to a defensive attack as the blaze intensified. Crews were able to get the blaze under control within about 15 minutes of arriving on the scene. This fight involved 10 fire units with 22 firefighters and support personnel – responding to the scene.

One Shreveport Firefighter was injured while fighting the blazed. The firefighter suffered minor burns and was rushed to a local hospital.

The cause and origin of the fire are currently under investigation by the Shreveport Fire Investigation Office.

Local Officials Are Calling for More Action to Fight Fires

Caddo Parish Commissioner John Paul Young says this is a problem across our community. He says vagrants are getting into vacant homes and setting these fires. He's urging the city to do more to get squatters out of these properties. He says it a serious problem in his neighborhood in Highland. But there have been several fires in vacant homes across the city.

There is no indication yet if this latest house fire was caused by vagrants.