NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — Flames shot into the night sky along the Mississippi River, Saturday (Oct. 16) as a fire engulfed the old “Market Street Wharf.”
The abandoned wharf extends along the east bank of the River, from Mardi Gras World toward the Walmart on Tchoupitoulas Street.
According to Captain Edwin Holmes with the New Orleans Fire Department (NOFD), the fire was reported just after 11pm and “moved quickly,” stretching about four blocks from Market Street to the current wharf entrance at Felicity Street, fueled by “a brisk wind.”
Members of the Krewe of Iris could see the flames as they attended an event on the “Riverboat Louis Armstrong” which was docked near Mardi Gras World.
As the fire grew, the NOFD responded with 41 firefighters, anticipating that the “old creosote-soaked pilings and the heavy timber” of the wharf could make the fire “very hard to extinguish.”
Capt. Holmes’ media release noted that the fire did not pose a threat to the current wharf and no injuries were reported.
WGNO’s Sam Packnett captured drone footage of the smoldering wharf on Sunday as fireboats continue to spray the charred wooden beams.
