Mandeville house burns, storefront smolders from fires

By Chad Ruiz
Published on Monday, March 10, 2008 9:00 AM CDT

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St. Tammany News

Fire Protection District 4 had a busy end of the week.

Thursday afternoon crews responded to a house fire at 65558 Loretta Drive in Mandeville. Four engines and 28 personnel participated in battling the flames, which left the interior of the home basically destroyed, Chief Rick Tassin said.

"The inside was probably 90 percent damaged," he said.

The cause is still under investigation, but Tassin suspects the fire was caused somewhere around the chimney of the fireplace.

"Once it got into the attic it spread rapidly," Tassin said.

A rough estimate of the damage places the value of the structure at $180,000. No injuries were reported from the fire, although Tassin said the flames produced enough heat to melt the face-shield of one firefighter's helmet.

STFD 4 responded to a separate incident Friday morning when the sign at Friendly Video, 929 Louisiana Highway 59, caught fire. Tassin suspected it to be from bad wiring running from the sign to the building.

The fire was confined mostly to the area behind the sign and portions of the attic and roof.

"The damage doesn't seem to be too extensive, and with an electricians and an approval from the city inspector, they could probably open back up soon," he said.

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