Teamwork between law enforcement, firemen help save lives in Abbeville

Teamwork between firemen and law enforcement helped prevent what could have been a tragic scene early Saturday morning in Abbeville.
At 2:20 a.m surrounding fire departments were called out to battle a house fire on Park Avenue, across the street from Mt. Carmel Elementary.
Responding to the structure fire were the Abbeville Fire Department, along with volunteers from the Erath, Henry, and Seventh Ward departments.
The house, with no one living in it, was engulfed by the time the fire departments arrived.
Louisiana Fire Marshal Butch Browning says the fire began just before 2:20 Saturday morning in the 400 block of Park Avenue.
The house was unoccupied at the time of the incident and up for sale.
Officials have determined the fire may have started in an air conditioning closet.
In the meantime, while they were fighting a fire, something else was happening north of them.
Eric Evans, 24, of Lafayette was leading surrounding law enforcement agents on a high speed chase, heading south on Hwy. 167.
Maurice police attempted to try and stop Evans in Maurice, but he refused. The officers stayed with Evans into Abbeville on Hwy 167.
At the same time, he made it through the intersection, an Abbeville Police Officer came from downtown Abbeville on Parks Avenue to warn firemen of a speeding car coming their way. He told them to get off the street.
Abbeville Fire Chief Jude Mire, who was on the scene of the fire, said maybe 30 seconds later a Dodge Dart came speeding and hit a five-inch water hose that was connected to a fire hydrant across the street pumping water into a fire truck.
The Dodge Dart hit the water hose and flew up in the air, came down into the on-coming lane of traffic and slid into a parked Ford SUV. The SUV belonged to a volunteer fireman who was on the scene fighting the fire.
The impact of the speeding car caused the parked SUV to be pushed into the front corner of Glenn Mouton’s building, creating a large hole.
Volunteer firemen and Abbeville firemen went from fighting the fire to helping get Evans out of the crashed vehicle.
Mire said, because of the warning by the police officer, firemen were able to get out of the way in time and no one was injured. He said he will have to replace a 100-foot long fire hose.
Evans was booked into the parish jail and his bond was set at $25,000.