NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — The New Orleans Fire Department is in the process of conducting informal inspections at the former Plaza Tower in Downtown New Orleans.

Members of the NOFD say the purpose of conducting the walkthroughs and familiarization is to identify structural hazards and possible life safety issues in order to ensure the safety of first responders when responding to the site for emergencies.

The tower located at 1001 Howard Ave. was built in the 1960s and stood as the tallest building in the city for four years until One Shell Square came about. Being blighted for the past 20 years, the abandoned site has become a home for the homeless community.

Within the past couple of years, a number of incidents have taken place at with the most recent happening back on March 24 when a man fell to his death hours after a fire at the abandoned skyscraper.

Just the night before, fighters responded to a fire at the Howard Ave location where they found a number of homeless people evacuating the building. They performed a sweep of the building and found no one left inside.

Investigations revealed the fire began on the second floor where a large pile of garbage was burning and began to spread to the floors above. The fire remains under investigation.

Additional concern’s the city has had with the location is the debris that continues to fall from the 45-story building, injuring pedestrians and damaging vehicles below. In 2021, a bicyclist was injured after strong winds blew unknown material, possibly paneling injuring the man enough to send him to the hospital.

A net has since been put up to prevent any further falling debris and injuries.

New Orleans city official have recently been in discussion n what should be done with the abandoned building. On the table of choices are redevelopment or demolition.

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