Friends: 8 killed in NO fire musicians, artists

[The Straight Story]

Friends: 8 killed in NO fire musicians, artists

NEW ORLEANS -- Eight homeless squatters who died in a fire at an abandoned warehouse where they were trying to keep warm were accomplished musicians and artists who rejected the label "gutter punk," acquaintances said.

Firefighters said they could not tell the ages or genders of those who died Tuesday in the city's deadliest blaze in decades because their bodies were so badly burned. A 23-year-old man who escaped told the American Red Cross he could not get back in to help his friends because of the smoke, agency volunteer Thomas Butler said. The group had been burning debris to keep warm, with temperatures below freezing, authorities said.

A group of young people sitting on the steps of an abandoned house near the warehouse said the dead included three women and five men.

Rachel Park, 27, of California, estimated their ages ranged from 19 to 30. The victims never thought of themselves as homeless and rejected the "gutter punk" label used by some locals to describe transient youths, who are often seen begging for money or cigarettes on French Quarter Streets, she said.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/29/AR2010122900438.html

[Fumesucker]

1. Nope, I heard right here on DU that they were most likely crackheads..

And that the place they were living in should have been bulldozed a long time ago in the interest of public safety.

Yes, I'm indulging in :sarcasm: