A wrongful death lawsuit filed in Caddo Parish alleges that communication failures and delayed search efforts by the Shreveport Fire Department contributed to the deaths of an elderly woman and her two granddaughters in an April 6, 2025 house fire on Kemp Lane in Shreveport.
According to the petition, Mildred Carter-Rawls was inside her home at 2441 Kemp Lane with her two young granddaughters when the fire broke out shortly before 6:37 a.m. The children’s mother called 911 after receiving a call from one of the girls reporting that the house was on fire. The suit states that the 911 operator was told the children were inside with their grandmother and conveyed that information to fire communications before transferring the call to fire dispatch.
The petition alleges that at approximately 6:38 a.m. dispatch broadcast a response to a “possible” house fire, sending four engines, a ladder, a rescue and a chief, but did not verbally advise responding crews that occupants were reported inside. Plaintiffs contend that dispatch later entered a written message into the mobile terminal system indicating that people were in the house, but that responding crews either did not see the message or were not otherwise alerted by radio…