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Photos by Mary-Devon Dupuy

For the second time in three months, New Orleans firefighters were tasked on Monday with putting out a fire at a building on the footrprint of the new LSU-VA Medical Center in Lower Mid-City. The latest blaze broke out at the former Pan-Am building, located near the corner of Canal and Tonti Sts. Around 1:40 p.m., NOFD got a call as a plume of black smoke grew from the roof.

The two-alarm fire broke out when some roofing materials caught fire, according to NOFD Deputy Chief Glenn Trainor. The blaze was confined to the roof, and was brought under control by 2:20 p.m.

The six-story building was built in the early 1950s. It originally housed Pan-American insurance, and was later used as a City Hall annex. It was one of the few buildings spared from demolition to make way for the huge new medical complex being constructed to replace the CBD's Charity and VA hospitals that were damaged in the Federal Flood.  Plans call for the building's shell to be incorporated into the new VA Medical Center.

In July, NOFD responded to a large fire at the abandoned Grand Palace Hotel at Canal and Claiborne. That building was later imploded to make way for the new Charity Hospital.