ASTRID RIECKEN/THE WASHINGTON TIMES
DC fire and rescue teams attend a fire at a family home at the 2200 block of Douglas Street in NE Washington, D.C., Thursday, June 4, 2009. The owner of the house, Bernard Myers, 39, was attending the graduation ceremony of his daughter at a nearby elementary school when the fire started. None was hurt in the fire. The cause of the fire is still unknown. PLEASE NOTE THAT I WAS ONLY ESCORTED TO THE FIRE FOR A SHORT MOMENT AND COULD ONLY TAKE PHOTOGRAPHS FROM ACROSS THE STREET AND WAS NOT ALLOWED TO ASK FOR ANY NAMES OF THE FIRE FIGHTERS WHO WERE TRYING TO PUT OUT THE FIRE. (Astrid Riecken/The Washington Times)A three-alarm fire Thursday morning in Northeast destroyed two homes and heavily damaged another.
The fire started just before 10 a.m. at a home in the 2200 block of Douglas Street and spread to two other homes, said D.C. fire department spokesman Alan Etter.
Roughly 180 firefighters and personnel using 70 pieces of equipment controlled the blaze in about 75 minutes.
Mr. Etter said there were no injuries but the fire destroyed two of the homes and left a residence at 2212 Douglas St. with “significant damage.”
“The fire department arrived to a home that was fully engulfed and had already spread to at least one of the homes,” he said. “This fire had been going on for a very long time before anybody even noticed it.”
Officials Thursday afternoon had not yet been able to determine the cause of the fire, which was extinguished by about 11:15 a.m.
Mr. Etter said the home where the blaze started was too unsound for an investigator to enter, but officials hoped to be able to determine a cause later.
He also said officials did not immediately know how many people were displaced by the blaze.
“We don’t know exactly who lives where yet,” he said.
Members of the Myers family, who lived in one of the homes, were at a kindergarten ceremony at a nearby elementary school when neighbors told them their home was on fire, according to WJLA-TV (Channel 7).
“All I can do is laugh to keep from crying,” Bernard Myers told the station. “I mean, I had … 37 years of my life in that house.”
Mr. Etter said multiple-alarm fires in the District are not common. He said the city’s last multiple-alarm fire occurred April 26, and the last three-alarm fires in the city likely were the ones that damaged Eastern Market and the Georgetown library branch in 2007.
A five-alarm fire in 2008 destroyed a Mount Pleasant apartment building and left about 200 people homeless.
“While multiple-alarm fires don’t happen very frequently, we must be prepared to respond with whatever resources are necessary to deal with any emergency,” Mr. Etter said.
By Meredith Somers - The Washington Times
By David Sherfinski - The Washington Times
By David Sherfinski - The Washington Times
By Tom Howell Jr. - The Washington Times
By Tom Howell Jr. - The Washington Times
President is violating religious freedom for an ineffective plan
By Rowan Scarborough - The Washington Times
Navy Secretary Ray Mabus, under fire from Congress and veterans for naming ships after fellow ...
By Tim Devaney - The Washington Times
Rick Berman has a black baseball cap with the words “Dr. Evil” in his K ...
By Sean Lengell and Dave Boyer - The Washington Times
Congressional leaders told their lawmakers Tuesday night they’ve reached a tentative deal to extend the ...
Independent voices from the TWT Communities
Immerse yourselves in the genius insights of a high school sports freak and statistical wizard who knows it all. Or at least thinks he does.
Health care reform, organized medicine, physician practice management, and patient care--a real time look at the challenges facing doctors and patients in America today.
CPAC 2012
26 Photos
CPAC opens in Washington
29 Photos
State of the District
8 Photos
Police raid Occupy D.C. camp
13 Photos
Potomac Phil makes stuffy debut
11 Photos
Romney wins Florida primary
8 Photos
Police stop Occupy D.C. sleepovers
13 Photos
Exiles want Republicans to free Cuba
21 Photos
